LIBRAI OF CONGRESS, 
Si 




/ 

CIVILIZATION: 

IS ITS CAUSE 

NATURAL OR SUPERNATURAL? 
AN INQUIRY 



A WAYFARER IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH. 

/ 



' The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's ; but the earth hath He giver 
to the children of men." — Psa. cxv. 16. 




# 



PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 

PHILADELPHIA : . 

CHARLES H. MAROT, PUBLISHER,, 

814 CHESTNUT STREET. 

1879 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, by 

CHARLES H. MAKOT, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. 0. 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface, 11 

Introduction. — The question proposed resolves itself into a decision be- 
tween the respective claims of Christianity and Natural Evolution, . 17 

Chapter I. — Evolution, 19 

The present prominence of the Evolution theory, — 

The nature of the evidence, 20 

A statement of what it claims, . . .21 

Man, the only part of animate creation that can remain under its in- 
fluence, 22 

Is man the creature of Natural Evolution ? 23 

The Evolutionist answers from a partial and one-sided view, . . — 

The problem is to be solved by realities and not by ingenuity, . . — 
Science important to mankind only to the degree that it promotes the 

happiness and prosperity of man, — 

Nothing that antagonizes the essentials of human happiness to be re- 
ceived as truth, 24 

The Evolutionist makes those jmnciples, on which human happiness 

rests, subservient to the necessities of his theory, .... — 
Human prosperity rests on the acknowledgment of individual respon- 
sibility to God, — 

The Evolution theory makes man a mere creature of necessity, . . — 
_ Natural development diametrically opposed to the fact of free agency, 25 
Unchangeable " law " or mode of action presupposes entire uniformity, — 
A perfect mode of action cannot produce an imperfect result, . . — 
To deprive man of the freedom of choice is to deprive him of all re- 
sponsibility, — 

The two horns of a dilemma, — 

In a development or growth under the government of perfect and un- 
varying "law," every stage of the process must be perfect, . . — 
The natural operation of unvarying law cannot confer on the subject 

of its government any power to antagonize itself, . . . .26 
Natural development admits of no such thing as transgression, . . — 
Hence sin is not transgression, but a provision of Deity for the eleva- 
tion of the race, . . . " — 

The absurdity of such an idea, — 

The evolutionist forced to conclude, that " we are what we are because 

the universe is what it is," . 27 

Such a statement, if true, would relieve us of all responsibility, . . — 



11 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. — Evolution. — The necessity or non-necessity of the interposition 

of the Divine Power the only point at issue, 28 

Man a morally responsible creature, 29 

His transgression of the Divine law places him in a position outside 

of the design of the Creator, — 

He can be restored only by the special interposition of the original 

Creative power, . , — 

Any other idea utterly absurd, 30 

The attributes of Deity unchangeable, 31 

Man unstable and variable, — 

A variable condition must be governed by a mode of action that is 

flexible, or immediately controlled by active intelligence, . . . — 
Man not justly responsible for a condition that he cannot avoid, . . 32 
Could not be responsible, unless he is furnished with the capacity to 

overcome the influence of his environment, — 

Has no natural power to resist the influence of his surroundings, . — 
Hence his responsibility must rest entirely on the fact, that he has 

within his reach a supernatural Power, 33 

The devolopment theory does not admit of the intervention of a su- 
pernatural power, — 

The unreasonableness of such an idea, — 

Another objection of still greater force, 3i 

The possession of an immortal nature utterly inconsistent with the 

idea of natural development, — 

This life only an opportunity offered to prepare for an infinite state of 

existence, — 

Man being a responsible creature, this preparation must be an intel- 
ligent one, — 

An intelligent preparation for an infinite existence requires a knowl- 
edge of infinite conditions, — ■ 

Finite or natural faculties can, by no possibility, reach to the percep- 
tion of infinite conditions, — 

The immediate revelation of God's will absolutely essential to enable 

man to prepare for immortality, 35 

Absurd to suppose that a finite mind can elevate itself to comprehend 

an infinite design, — 

Chapter II. — Christianity, 37 

A truly scientific view of the relation of man to the universe must take 

into consideration facts relating both to finite and infinite conditions, — 
Finite facts receive their chief importance from their relation to infi- 
nite facts, — 

The relation of the finite to the infinite can only be perceived by Infi- 
nite Intelligence, — 

Man cannot fulfill the design of his creation except he lives under the 

immediate guidance of his Creator, 3S 

Impossible to suppose that God could create any other than a perfect 

creature, — 

Forced to conclude that man was created in the " image of God," . — 
He was free to remain under the government of his Creator, or to sep- 
arate himself from it, — 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 



in 



Chapter II. — Christianity. — He did actually separate himself from it, . 38 

The consequences of this separation not confined to the first Adam, . — 

The posterity of Adam not created immediately by God, . . . 39 
Anything produced through an agency cannot be more perfect than 

the agent, 40 

Mankind naturally " dead " to righteousness, 41 

The posterity of Adam come into the world innocent, but -without ca- 
pacity, — 

The transgression of man affected the whole creation, .... — 

Man created a " steward " of the creation, 42 

"When separated from the "presence of God," he is unable to act as 

such, — 

His restoration must be of his own free choice, — 

A new creation by God essential to a restoration, 43 

God promises that He will bring this forth, and implants a germ or 

seed thereof in the heart of every child of Adam, .... — 

This promise fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ, .... — 

This " seed " of Christ's kingdom, which God implants in the hearts 

of all men, is our only means of salvation, — 

The Oneness of Christ with God, 44 

The purpose of his creation fulfilled only in his death, . . . .45 
"We gain nothing by the coming of Christ, unless we permit his spirit 

to rule our hearts, 40 

A comparison of Christianity with Evolution, — 

Christianity places man in immediate communion with his Creator, . 4S 
Natural development leaves him entirely dependent for all knowledge 

of truth on the surmises of a few men, 49 

The one incites to the performance of duty, — the other only mystifies 

and unsettles the mind, 50 

Christianity a substantial reality, — Evolutionism a dream, . . . — 

Christianity not truly represented in the popular theology, . . . 51 

As represented by theologians, no better than Darwinism, . . . — 

Both are in the interest of priestcraft, — 

Any system that leads people to look to a certain class of men for 

their knowledge of truth is a support to priestcraft, . . . .52 
The natural tendency of mankind to foster a priesthood, . . .53 
The gospel of Christ in direct antagonism to every species of priest- 
craft, — 

Christ the rightful ruler of the world, 54 

Chapter III. — Civilization, 55 

In what civilization consists, . — 

Synonymous with human improvement, . — 

Man has no inherent power to improve himself, . . . . ' . 56 

The cause of civilization must be supernatural, — 

The government of Christ the only adequate cause for civilization, . — 

The conscience the seat of his government, — 

Hence the supremacy of conscience, 57 

The advance of civilization to be measured by the advance of Christi- 
anity, , — 

Civilization a realization of truth, . . — 



iv SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter III. — Civilization. — The truth a unit, 57 

Natural science affords no basis for unity, 58. 

To perceive that a thing exists amounts to but little, unless we go fur- 
ther and perceive its relation to the design of creation, . . . — 
The design of creation can be comprehended only by the Creator, . — 
Man can know nothing of it except what is impressed upon his con- 
science immediately by the Creator — 

All efforts of man to discover the design of creation by the exercise 
of his natural faculties only result in covering the conscience with 

fictions, — 

The operation of the light of Christ upon the conscience, . . . 59 

Things are to us according to our belief, GO 

Truth not correctly represented unless the conscience is free from pre- 
conceived opinions, — 

The accumulation of knowledge concerning finite things produces dis- 
unity instead of unity, til 

Knowledge of finite things affords a basis for conjecture and specula- 
tion, but can give no clue to the design of God, — 

The history of the different religious sects an illustration of the dis- 
uniting effect of human knowledge, <>2 

Every conception concerning the design of creation a religious belief; 

but only one true system of religion, — 

The human imagination the origin of the diverse professions, . . — 
All finite conceptions of God are parts of one great finite system of 

religion, or a great general hierarchy, — 

This hierarchy at one time united, but now thoroughly split up and 

divided, 03 

But still a unit in turning the attention of mankind away from the 

truth, . — 

Increased knowledge of natural things a consequence of Divine en- 
lightenment, . — 

It is an agent for the destruction of the hierarchy, .... 65 
But it remains an adjunct of civilization only while connected with 

Divine revelation, — 

The hierarchy a monster with many heads, 66 

The early decline of the church simultaneous with a decline <>f faith 

in the immediate teachings of Christ, ii7 

Its revival must depend on a revival of this faith — 

The increase of Christ's government simultaneous with the decline of 

the hierarchy, OS 

Darkness and obscurity the source of the power of the hierarchy, . — 
It is forced to adapt itself to various degrees of enlightenment, . . — 
The difficulty with which it maintains its position in those parts of 

the earth where the influence of Christianity is felt the most, . .69 
It is here forced practically to renounce all claim to Divine origin, 
and to reconstruct itself with natural science for its acknowledged 

basis, 70 

Man responsible to God for the use of the creation, . . . .72 
Increased facilities for controlling the elements does not change the 
relation of man to God, — 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. v 

Chapter III. — Civilization. — No possible arrangement of his surroundings 

can elevate man to a higher plane than that of an obedient servant, 

or make him less dependent on his Creator, 72 

Free institutions not derived from the power of steam or electricity, . — 

No genuine prosperity except it is the outgrowth of righteousness, . 74 

Insidious deceptions, and the calamitous results, . . . . ■ . — 
Christ's kingdom known only as each individual finds it in his own 

heart, 75 

Christianity not an " unthinkable " notion, 76 

The conditions on which all may obtain the benefit of it, . . — 

Chapter IV. — Conscience, 78 

Necessary to understand the functions of the conscience, . . . — 

The rights of conscience generally acknowledged, — 

But the ideas concerning the nature of it very vague, .... — 
Webster's definition of it only represents the general confusion of 

ideas,. . 79 

Conscience the faculty of consciousness, — it has no power of decision, — 

It is but the reflector of perception or knowledge, — 

It is a faculty of every creature possessing intelligence, and hence not 

confined to the human race, .80 

The conscience of man embraces the widest range, because of his more 

comprehensive intelligence, i . . — 

The conscience no more a " moral faculty " than is any other faculty, . 81 
A consciousness resulting from the exercise of natural faculties cannot 

represent the Will of God, . — 

A consciousness of His will must be impressed upon the conscience 

immediately by Him, — 

The necessity of " faith," .82 

The perception of finite realities can produce no consciousness of infi- 
nite realities, . — 

The consciousness produced by Infinite Intelligence furnishes a basis 

for the operation of the intellect, r . . — 

The only ground of practical " faith," :. — 

When man was first created, his conscience reflected nothing but the 

"image of God," .84 

His perceptive faculties and his reasoning powers seemed to give him 

an independent basis to stand on, — 

The result of depending on this basis was his "death" to the truth, . 85 

Eating of the " tree of knowledge " deprives him of the " tree of life," 86 
Man endeavoring to screen himself from an acknowledgment of -the 

truth, his conscience becomes covered with " fig-leaves," . . . — 
The conscience that is " naked " of the Divine light must be covered 

with the skins of beasts, . 87 

Such the condition in which disobedience placed our first parents, . — 

And such is the condition in which man now comes into the world, . — 

Christ's government restores man from this condition, . . . . — 

The manifestations of his light, — man still a free agent, . . . — 

Naturally shrinks from entertaining any view that requires self-denial, 88 
Is naturally inclined to any conception of religion that promises ease 

and self-indulgence, -■ . : < . . — 



vi SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXT*. 

Chapter IV. — Conscience. — Which is the reason that the creation and dec- 
oration of "fig-leaves" is the most influential employment that any 

one can engage in, . 88 

The powerful influence of education, 89 

All finite conceptions have the same tendency, — 

The origin of the religious feeling the same in all, 90 

The reason that its growth is not the same in all, — 

Chapter V. — Conclusions, 91 

The first and only duty of man is to fulfill the object for which he was 

created, — 

God designed to govern the earth through man, — 

Not as a mere irresponsible machine, but as an intelligent free agent, . — 
Obedience in a free agent must be the result of an effort to obey, . 92 
To yield to impulse, is not to act as a responsible creature, . . . — 
All of our deeds must be brought to " the light " for judgment, . . !»:{ 
Without the light there could be no condemnation, .... — 
The light alone enables us to distinguish what comes under condem- 
nation, — 

Man not justified because he does not feel condemned by his con- 
science, . !»4 

Darkness no cause for justification, — 

If man would fulfill the design of God, he must wait for a revelation 

of God's will before acting, — 

Christ's testimony 95 

God the only teacher of His people, 90 

Outward instrumentalities of no use in religion except so far as they 

turn the attention to the Divine light on the conscience, . . . — 

This is the legitimate tendency of the Bible, — 

All finite conceptions only antagonize this purpose, .... — 
The absurdity of whole congregations depending on one or tw> men 

for the communication of God's will, ■*— 

The music of an organ or the singing of a choir has but little tendency 

to direct the attention to the light of Christ on the conscience, . — 

The church of Christ is his body, — 

His body is now composed of many members, — 

Its strength depends on each of these members being governed by the 

One head, — 

The nature of true worship, 97 

The practices of the various sects have but little resemblance to it, . — 

The substance of prayer and of true religion, 98 

The origin of the religious feeling the same in all, — 

Its influence always in the same direction — 

The influence of Christ extensive enough to embrace the whole hu- 
man family, 99 

His church universal, and founded upon a "rock" or unit, . . .100 
The conceptions of human wisdom are the " gates of hell, . . — 

Jesus Christ the " One shepherd," 

The work of his body is to gather all men into the " One sheepfold," . 

Chapter VI. — Further Conclusions, 102 

But One foundation for Christian labor, 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. 



Vll 



Chapter VI — Further Conclusions. — The non-recognition of this fact the 
cause that the various systems of reformation produce so little 

good fruit, 102 

They are principally founded on sensation and excitement, . . 103 
The effect is therefore but temporary, — does not reach the root of the 

matter, 

The absurdity of attempting to discriminate between different forms 

of evil, 

It only amounts to an effort to serve both God and mammon, or to 

serve God by cheating the devil, 104 

Cutting a few branches off the top of a tree only makes what remains 

more vigorous, 105 

Drunkenness not the chief cause of crime, — statistics to the contrary 

notwithstanding, 

Drunkenness only a consequence, 

The unregenerate heart of man the only source of all evil, . . 

Practical Christianity, the regeneration of the heart by Christ's spirit, 

the only remedy, 

Satan always to be found where Christ does not reign, . . . 106 
Temptation is to be overcome by "faith," and not by trying to run 

away from it, 

Because we have perverted an object of God's creation, is no reason 

that we should anathematize it or attempt to obliterate it, . . 

Not the object, but he that perverts it needs reformation, . . . 

If man is weak, he must accept the means of reformation that the 

Creator has provided, 107 

Man's place is, to look to God for strength to preserve the creation or 

to fulfill His design, 

All attempts to reorganize the creation to suit man's weakness antag- 
onistic to any good result, 

A thing is impure to a man only because the man is impure, . . 

Men to be held responsible for their influence upon each other, . . 

But not to be taught to depend on temporizing expedients, . . 108 

Human laws can effect no reformation, 

Their only use is to protect what already exists, 

" Life " the only basis of reformation, ....... 

Evil is to be measured, not by its visible consequences, but by its an- 
tagonism to this indwelling principle of " life," 109 

God alone able to discern the real consequences of evil, and He makes 
no discrimination, but directs the whole plant to be purged out by 

the roots, — 

Our salvation not grounded upon a choice between different forms of 

vanity, . - — 

The danger of giving undue prominence to any particular form of 

sin, . 

Necessary that we should bring all of our actions to. the light-, . . 110 
While man remains in darkness, he can do no other than perform the 

works of. darkness, 

No evil can be eradicated from the earth except as men come under 
the influence of the Spirit of Christ, . 



Vlll 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter VI. — Further Conclusions. — The "grace of God" produces yearn- 
ings after light in the hearts of all men, Ill 

To give place to these yearnings the only hope of salvation, . .112 
It is by these yearnings, begotten of the light, that the heart is ten- 
dered and made susceptible to the influence of virtue, . . 

More important that men should be warned against the deceptive in- 
fluences which lead them to ignore these first small impressions of 
good, than against the palpable results of transgression, which can 

deceive no one, , . 

By supposing that merit or innocence pertains intrinsically to certain 
actions, our watchfulness is diverted from the inshinings of Divin- 
ity to the discrimination of the human intellect, . . . .113 
To be without the guidance of Christ is to be " dead " to all the real 

purposes of creation, 

While the mind is diverted from the only source of wisdom, decay 

from virtue is inevitable, 

Makes no difference whether it is so diverted by the sensations of 

the " grogshop " or of the " lecture-room," 114 

The absence of dirt does not supply the place of nutriment, . . 

The sensual indulgences, which present the least appearance of dirt 
or which are regarded as " lawful " indulgences, are the most effect- 
ive in diverting the attention from the light, 

The kernelless entertainment found nearest to innocence keeps tin- 
inns farther along the i>ath from virtue supplied with guests, . .115 

Man cannot take as his own the jewels that belong to Christ, . . 

Wisdom — the Will of God — must be accepted in its integrity, as a 

unit, 110 

Impossible for man to divide it up and use it in parts, .... 

We are saved by having, not a selected constituent of righteousness, 
obtained by brain analysis, but the perfect substance itself within 

us, to leaven our hearts, — 

Man's imitative powers amount to nothing in the service of God, . 117 
The government of the unregenerate heart of man a realization of 

the woman that John saw in his vision, — 

When " Babylon " was overthrown, a new heaven and a new earth 

appeared, — 

He that sat upon the throne said, " Behold, I make all things new," . 118 
Utterly futile for men to try to preserve themselves in sensuality, or 

to take the worldly spirit with them into the kingdom of heaven, . 

He that sows to the flesh must reap corruption, 

Schemes for making men comfortable in sensuality antagonistic to 

reformation, ... 

Salvation not a refinement of sin, but a destruction of it, . . . 

If our chief concern is to live under the government of Christ, Ave 
need to have no anxiety, but a proper arrangement of worldly af- 
fairs will follow as a natural consequence, 

Quotation from Ezekiel, 1 19 

Unity of purpose more important than numbers, 

Pernicious consequences of lukewarnmess and divided counsels in 
those who are looked up to as leaders, 120 



SYNOPSIS OF CONTEXTS. i x 

Chapter VI. — Further Conclusions. — The effect of self-sacrifice and unity 

of purpose illustrated in the Apostolic church, 120 

Those who now profess to stand in the place of the Apostles use the 
Church for their own gratification and self-interest, .... 

The Church has grown and prospered notwithstanding, . . .121 

It only needs self-sacrificing testimony-bearers, who are truly ser- 
vants of the Lord, to enable it to present a united front through- 
out the earth, 

A man must be governed by the light himself, before he can bear 

witness to it, 

Appendix, 123 



" He that duly considers the business of life and death, will find that he has little 
time to spare from that study." 

" What does it concern us, which was the elder of the tiro, Homer or Hesiod ; or 
which was the taller, Helen or Hecuba ? We take a great deal of pains to trace 
Ulysses in his wanderings ; but were it not time as well spent to look to ourselves that 
we may not wander at all ? ... . Teach me to measure my appetites, and to know 
when I have enough ; teach me to divide with my brother, and to rejoice in the pros- 
perity of my neighbor. You teach me how I may hold my own, and keep my estate ; 
but I would rather learn how I may lose it all and yet be contented." 

" The more haste we make in a wrong way, the further we are from our journey 1 s 
end. Let us, therefore, first, consider what it is we would be at; and secondly, v:h ich 
is the readiest way to compass it. If we be right, tee shall find every day how much 
we improve ; but if we either follow the cry or the track of other people that are out 
of the way, we must expect to be misled, and to continue our days in wandering and 
error. Wherefore it highly concerns us to take along ivith us a skillful guide ; for it 
is not in this as in other voyages, where the highway brings us to our place of 
repose ; or, if a man should happen to be out, where the inhabitants might set him 
right again; but on the contrary, the beaten road is here the most dangerous, and the 

people, instead of helping us, misguide us The great blessings of mankind 

are within us and within our reach ; but we shut our eyes, and like people in the 

dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it There 

are some that live without any design at all, and only pass in the world like straws 
upon a river; they do not go, but they are carried. Others only deliberate upon the 
parts of life, and not upon the whole, which is a great error ; for there is no disposing 
of the circumstances of it, unless we first projyoimd the main scope. How shall any 
man take his aim without a mark ? Or, what wind will serve him that is not yet re- 
solved upon his port t" — Seneca. 



PEEFACE. 



"And even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, exceptthey give a di: 
the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped ? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound,, 
who shall prepare himself for the battle. — / Cor. xiv. 7, 8. 



BEFOBE entering on the consideration of the matter presented in 
the following pages, I can do no less than ask the reader to pre- 
pare himself to render an unbiassed judgment, that his visions may 
be only in the pure light of Truth, unobscured by those opaque and 
distorting mediums, — prejudice, self-love, or superstition. And to 
this end there are two points especially, to which I would now ask 
his attention. 

In the first place, let it be observed that, while toleration (in re- 
spect to opinions) is an essential element of human progress, indiffer- 
ence is its most destructive foe, and can in no case be the legitimate 
offspring of toleration. 

It would seem that some people of the present day having seen in 
opinionated bigotry the horrible monster that it really is, have run 
from it at random, and arrived at the conclusion that opinions are 
not merely to be tolerated, but ignored : which is not only to with- 
hold the matter from that basis of Divine Love which is ever ready 
to patiently endure and labor for the promotion of the truth, but to 
leave it on no better foundation than carelessness and indifference to 
everything except the hap-hazard fancy of a wayward and bewildered 
mind. 

The mariner, who wrecks his bark on the rocks of Charybdis, has 
but slight cause to boast of his skill in avoiding the dangers of Scylla. 

So long as man is a rational and responsible creature, his actions 
must either be governed by his opinions or else condemned by them. 
To ignore opinion is as utterly impossible as it is utterly undesira- 
able, and every attempt to do so is but to accept opinions based on 
partiality (self-love) and indifference to the universal principles of 



12 PREFACE. 

truth, instead of those resting on Christian charity, patient consider- 
ation, and a sincere effort to know the facts. 

A man's opinions simply represent his consciousness of the facts 
of the case, or truth, in relation to any subject in regard to which 
he may be called upon to decide. Hence, indifference to his opinion 
is neither more nor less than indifference to the dictates of his con- 
science ; and he who is indifferent to the dictates of conscience, surely 
can have but little of practical value to say in favor of the rights of 
conscience, in a recognition of which we find the bulwark of civil and 
and religious liberty. 

To base his actions on his opinions, — on what he really believes to 
be right, — is the only possible means by which one can show his alle- 
giance to righteousness, prove himself an earnest seeker after truth, 
or an honest man. To act without an opinion is to act as an irre- 
sponsible creature, without any of the capacities of a rational being ; 
to act contrary to the opinion is to perform what we believe to be 
wrong, to violate the conscience, which must ever bring under con- 
demnation and darkness. 

From which it appears, that a man may transgress or act contrary 
to his opinion, but in no case can he do better than to perform what 
he believes to be right, — that is, in endeavoring to perform his duty, 
the correctness of his actions must depend on the correctness of his 
belief or opinion ; and this is my excuse for troubling the world with 
the present essay, wherein it is my concern to discover the means by 
which we may obtain a correct opinion. 

The need of the world is a correct apprehension of things, or true 
enlightenment, and to the reception of this, intolerant dogmatism 
(the attempt to force opinions) and license (the attempt to ignore 
opinions) are both thoroughly antagonistic. 

The only ground on which men can justly base a hope of either 
present or future felicity, is a proper fulfillment of the requirements 
of their present existence ; and this must depend on a knowledge of 
these requirements, — that is, on a knowledge of the facts or truth in 
regard to man's relation to God and the creation. But it is impos- 
sible that several antagonistic views should each truly represent the 
same fact. Hence the true interests of humanity demand, not an 
adaptation to diversity of views or sectarianism, but an earnest labor 
for unity in the knowledge of the duties of life, which is equivalent 
to saying, in the knowledge of truth. 

Genuine charity does not destroy knowledge, nor does true love 



PREFACE. 13 

require that harmony should be purchased through a repudiation of 
facts. 

Because earnest effort based on bigotry, pride, or ignorance has 
ever been attended with evil consequences, certainly affords us no 
just ground to suppose that the plan of Deity for the government of 
creation is such as to admit of no earnest or intelligently-connected 
effort at all. 

True love can never be disconnected from zeal or earnestness: 
therefore, if we really love God supremely, we must necessarily be 
earnest in seeking to know His will, and in performing what we be- 
lieve that He requires. And if we love our neighbor, as we are com- 
manded, we cannot be indifferent to His true welfare. Hence, unless 
we are ready to deny that there are immutable laws or principles by 
which the lives of men should be governed, we cannot be indifferent 
to the principles by which our neighbor's life-work is being moulded. 
Under the influence of true love we must, of necessity, be earnest in 
bearing testimony to what we believe to be the will of Deity and for 
the benefit of our fellow-men. 

If we have no definite belief in regard to the matter, — that is to 
say, if we ourselves are without any settled convictions or principles 
for the government of our conduct, — of course, we can have no ground 
for supposing that our testimony will benefit our neighbors ; but, if 
it is true that "those who seek" (earnestly, of course) "shall find," 
this fact can make no difference as to our responsibility in connection 
with the matter. 

Jesus declared that his mission was to bear witness to the truth. 
"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, 
that I should bear witness unto the truth." Jo/mxix. 27. Again, he 
says : — " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth ; I came 
not to send peace, but a sword." Matt. x. 34. Thus plainly signify- 
ing that he ever has a controversy with everything that is opposed 
to the Divine government or truth. How, then, is it possible for any 
of his genuine disciples to proclaim " peace " and take their rest in 
that condition of compromise, and supineness which is well repre- 
sented by that popular expression, " Let us agree to differ " : which 
is equivalent to saying, " I still believe that my neighbors are mis- 
taken, but I am weary of the self-abnegation involved in bearing wit- 
ness to my convictions of truth : I will therefore repress them and 
keep silent, except, perhaps, so far as I may avow them without 
being obliged to stem the popular current, or being debarred the sun- 



14 PREFACE. 

shine of human adulation or approval." This seems much more like 
"strengthening the hands of evil doers," than being "steadfast, im- 
movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." 

As the ostrich hides its head in the sand, and thinks itself safe 
from its pursuers, so do men immerse their heads in the pleasures 
of social intercourse, and forget that there are seeds sown by the 
enemy springing up in their very midst, which, if allowed to grow, 
will sap the foundation and must eventually bring the whole social 
fabric to destruction. 

I know that it is most important that we should remember we are 
not to run without being sent, or without a well-considered and defi- 
nite conviction that the matter in hand is a duty required. I am well 
aware that all Christian labor, one for another, can extend no further 
than the watering of the "good seed"; that the effect must be left to 
the individual, and that we can look for our reward only to Him in 
whose service we are professing to labor : and I am further well 
aware that, let the result be what it may, we can, as Christians, in 
no-wise be absolved from the exercise of the Christian virtues, char- 
ity, long-suffering patience, and love for our brother ; but certainly 
he must be a most unprofitable servant who will "agree" or rest well 
pleased that his labor produce not the desired effect. 

Can he who, being sent to deliver his master's message, says to 
him to whom he is to deliver it : — " Here is the message, but as to 
whether it is heeded or not, I care nothing," be accounted a faithful 
steward, much less he who refuses to deliver it at all except so far 
as it suits his own views of pleasure or convenience. 

If such is Christian charity, then truly charity, instead of cover- 
ing a multitude of sins — in the sense intended, of begetting feelings 
of compassion and a willingness to labor and patiently bear with the 
transgressor in order for his reformation, — has become the very sub- 
stance wherein sin may establish itself, take root, and nourish. 

True love is strong and steadfast, and remains intact, notwithstand- 
ing all differences of opinion, even though the consequence should be 
a condition of suffering even unto death; but, to "agree" with what 
is supposed to be error is, at best, but a temporizing expedient, which 
is thoroughly foreign and antagonistic both to genuine love and gen- 
uine growth in wisdom. 

Any one who seriously considers the vast responsibilities that at- 
tach to the present state of existence, — that his influence for weal or 
woe must depend on his filling up the requirements of his creation, 



PREFACE. 15 

and that there is before him a future of infinite duration, for the en- 
tering upon which the present short and transient life is but a state 
of preparation ; and who can yet pass on contented to be borne along 
by the current of popular clamor or human assertion and authority ; 
or satisfied to dwell at ease with no better basis for his life-work and 
hope of his soul's salvation than guessing and conjecture ; suffering 
himself to be entertained by the fancies and inventions of men with- 
out knowing that he is fulfilling the purpose for which man was cre- 
ated, may well be compared to one who beholdeth " himself in a glass, 
and goeth his way, and straightway forge tteth what manner of crea- 
ture he is." 

In the second place, — I suppose there are many to whom, at first 
sight, (without a clue consideration of the facts on which they are 
based,) it would seem, that the views herein presented as the truth 
are impracticable ; that in their application to practical business and 
the every-day occurrences of life they are quite chimerical. This is 
my apology for now soliciting of the reader an earnest and fair con- 
sideration both of the consequent and the antecedent on which I 
claim it rests. For let it be remembered, that the practicability of 
anything must depend very much on what is sought thereby to be 
accomplished. 

To a person who is seeking for sudden wealth, patient industry 
and simple economy is an impracticable method of procedure. If 
luxurious living, or the mere control of the good things of the earth, 
is the object for which we ought to seek; if this was the true intent 
of life, — if wealth was godliness, or if ambition was the spirit of 
prayer, — then I admit that the conclusions of the following pages 
are utterly Utopian ; but if the welfare of men depends on their ful- 
filling the Will of their Creator, and if it is the "pure in spirit" that 
are "blessed" and the "meek that He will guide in judgment," then 
I do not see how they can be overturned. 

That all men ought to fulfill the will or design of the Creator is a 
truth so palpable that, I apprehend, not a single individual will be 
found to deny it ; yet I believe that it is a fact, — a fact of much sig- 
nificance in reference to the matter now before us, — that history af- 
fords us not a single instance wherein this paramount and acknowl- 
edged duty has been urged upon the people, has been brought home 
to them in a practical shape, but it has been objected to by a large 
majority of those making the highest profession of religion, on the 
ground of its being impractical. 



16 PREFACE. 

The Jews were zealous in proclaiming their allegiance to God and 
the necessity of a coming Messiah ; but when Christ came among 
them, a perfect exemplification of godliness and wisdom, to them he 
was nought but an impracticable "fellow." It seemed to them that 
an acknowledgment of his doctrines would place in jeopardy all that 
they held most dear, would deprive them of their dependence for 
happiness. " If we let him alone," say they, " all men will believe 
on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place 
and nation." And so they crucified him. 

People of to-day profess themselves dependent for their welfare on 
being the disciples of this same Christ ; but, if many of those who 
would count it an offence to be denied the name of Christian did not 
ignore practical Christianity, and set at nought the only possible 
means for experiencing a practical government by Christ ; if there 
,were none to-day to whom, as to the "Greeks " of old, the preaching 
of practical righteousness is "foolishness"; if at the present time 
there were none to whom, as it was to the " Jews " formerly, a prac- 
tical exemplification of their own profession is but a "stumbling- 
block " ; then, I suppose, the following pages might well have re- 
mained unwritten. 

Undoubtedly the methods of the man who practically manifests his 
belief, that all things necessary will be added (or the way opened to 
obtain them under the guidance of wisdom) if he only first obtains 
the "righteousness of the kingdom of heaven," — I say, the methods 
of the man who seeks for happiness only through the righteousness 
of the kingdom of heaven, would undoubtedly seem unpractical to 
him who looks for it in the sensation and excitement, or the glory 
and applause of this present world. And if any reader should find 
aught in the pages of this book which, if admitted to be true, would 
form a barrier to some fond enterprise, would seem to be an obsta- 
cle in his pathway to worldly preferment, or to the approval and 
admiration of his fellow-men, may I not entreat him to cast it not 
lightly aside until he shall have considered well the full significance 
of the query : — " What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul? " 

The question of chief importance is not, What does man desire ? 
but, AVhat does God require ? Not, How the insatiable ambition of 
man may be satisfied ? but, How can we know the will of the Crea- 
tor, and come to the performance of right action or of righteous- 
ness? 



INTRODUCTION. 



THIS Inquiry is in consequence of a conviction, on the part of the 
writer, that all schemes of religion, or theories respecting the 
relations of mankind to the Universe and to the Creator thereof, are 
in reality based on but two general assumptions : — 1st, That the civ- 
ilization or improvement of mankind is caused by the direct media- 
tion of a Supernatural Power. 2nd, That strictly natural causes are 
sufficient to account for its production. 

The one asserts that the development of civilization is effected only 
by the interposition of God : the other ascribes all improvement to 
a natural development of natural faculties. According to it, our re- 
sources for the work of life are confined to our finite powers of per- 
ception. 

Although these two antagonistic principles, or general grounds for 
action, have had their influence in the world from the period when 
the members of the human family first transgressed the laws of De- 
ity : each having been practically exemplified in the respective lives 
of Abel and Cain and of Jacob and Esau, — yet it seems to have been 
reserved to our modern " advanced scientist " to erect for the first 
time, on the latter foundation, a superstructure possessing even the 
appearance of logical sequence. 

The proposition first mentioned above finds its only consistent ex- 
emplification in the genuine faith and practices of Christianity. 

In the other is to be included every system or form of belief that 
ascribes to man any natural or inherent capacity to make advance- 
ment in fulfilling the design of his creation. And if it is true, as I 
think an unprejudiced view will show it to be, that the latter em- 
braces, in at least a greater or less degree, all views of the relations 
and responsibilities of life except that of pure Christianity, (which is 
equivalent to saying, that it is the source and foundation of all adul- 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

teration of Christianity,) and that it has found its culminating point, 
or its nearest possible approach to a consistent or " thinkable " plan 
of creation in the hypothesis of the evolutionist, then our present 
business is chiefly confined to deciding between the respective claims 
of Christianity and natural evolution. 



CHAPTEE I 

EVOLUTION. 



"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had 
brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower 
whose top may reach unto heaven." — Gen. xi. 3, 4. 



WHATEVER views may be entertained in regard to its origin or 
connection with the past, I think no one can doubt that the 
theory of " evolution " is exerting a very powerful influence in mould- 
ing the opinions of the present generation. It now has among its ad- 
vocates nearly all the most prominent "scientists," and, judging from 
the present it seems likely soon to become the acknowledged basis for 
the teachings of our universities and schools. Yet, it has assumed 
the shape which is now so conspicuous and clearly defined in the face 
of persistent and, until recently, almost unanimous denunciation from 
the clergy and theologians of nearly every sect of professing Chris- 
tendom. But, perhaps this fact would be of no great significance, 
did not its supporters themselves acknowledge it to be, if not subver- 
sive of Christianity, at least at variance with those of its doctrines 
that have been considered fundamental. 

Truth is a unit. If this theory is antagonistic to Christianity, it is 
certain that they cannot both be true ; and I now propose to examine, 
so far as I may find ability to do so, their respective claims for admis- 
sion to the domain of true science, — the knowledge of truth. Any 
statement respecting a question of fact is to be judged only by the evi- 
dence ; and the doctrines, neither of religion nor physics, are exempt 
from this rule. But it must be remembered that we have no right to 
claim correctness for our judgment until all the evidence pertaining to 
the case has been allowed its due weight : an absolutely positive con- 
clusion can never be arrived at except it is based entirely on positive 
evidence. 



20 AN INQUIRY. 

But all theories in regard to physical science, being as they all ne- 
cessarily are, merely inferences drawn from human observation and ex- 
perience, cannot possibly rest on anything better than circumstantial 
evidence : it is this that makes it a theory or distinguishes it from a 
fact. Of the nature of the evidence on which every hypothesis of this 
kind must rest, the following will serve as an illustration : — Between 
Niagara Falls and Lake Ontario the river runs through a deep gorge. 
It seems but reasonable to suppose that this has been gradually cut 
out by the river itself. This supposition is supported by the fact that 
the falls are at the present time receding from the lake. If a person 
should find by observation that the present average progress of the 
gorge is at the rate of one inch a year, he may from this data infer 
that it has taken about three hundred and eighty thousand years for 
the water to wear out its whole length of about six miles. His infer- 
ence would appear very reasonable, but it would nevertheless be a de- 
duction resting entirely upon circumstantial evidence, on the assump- 
tion that the past was as the present is. Unless he can prove that he 
has before him all the evidence pertaining to the case, unless he can 
show conclusively that there may not have been influences at work 
of which the human mind can have no conception, then he must ad- 
mit an element of doubt that removes his conclusions from the realm 
of absolute certainty. 1 

Thus, by a little consideration, it is plainly to be seen, that abso- 
lute certainty, as regards either the future or pre-historic past, is a 
thing unknown to physical science. Nevertheless, I think it will be 
found, that the evidence on which the result of the calculation above 



1 On this point the late Prof. Henry, who was certainly well qualified to 
form an intelligent opinion in regard to the strength of the "scientist's" posi- 
tion, says : — " In the scientific explanation of physical phenomena, we assume 
the existence of a principle having properties sufficient to produce the effect 
which we observe, and when the principle so assumed explains, by logical de- 
ductions from it, all the phenomena, we call it a theory, — thus we have the 
theory of light, the theory of electricity, &c. There is no proof, however, of 
the truth of these theories, except the explanation of the phenomena which 
they are invented to account for. This proof, however, is sufficient in any 
case in which every fact is fully explained, and can be predicated when the 
conditions are known." — Prof. Henry's last letter. 

Now, from this it is obvious that, if some of the facts or conditions are ne- 
cessarily left out of the consideration because of their being beyond the com- 
prehension of man, "this proof" would not be sufficient. In regard to any 
matter of which the conditions are not known, and can by no possibility be 
known, of course nothing can be predicated with any certainty. 



EVOLUTION. 21 

referred to is based, is far more positive in its character than that on 
which the evolutionist claims to have established his hypothesis. 

The fundamental ideas on which this theory rests, are, that the uni- 
verse is governed by fixed and unchangeable law, or mode of action, 
and that all improvement is the result of natural development. It is 
contended, that man, starting as a simple cell or embryo, has devel- 
oped to the present wonderfully complex being by gradual natural 
evolution ; and that all living things have been produced by the same 
process. 

"The hypothesis of evolution," says one of its most eminent advo- 
cates, "asserts that from one or a lew original organisms all those that 
we now see have been derived by a process of evolving or develop- 
ment. It will not admit that there has been any intervention of the 
Divine power. * * * Creation " (referring to the hypothesis of spe- 
cial creation) " reposes on the arbitrary act of God ; evolution on the 
universal reign of law." ' 

If the conditions of the pre-historic past are necessarily involved in 
uncertainty, we may justly infer that a knowledge thereof is not very 
important to our well-being ; but we may well suppose that to under- 
stand the requirements of the present time is essential to our welfare. 
Our great need is, not so much to understand the exact manner or 
mode of creation — the origin of life, as the design and purposes for 
which we were created — or the requirements and duties of life. 

Hence, upon entering on the consideration of a theory of this kind, 
the first question that will naturally, arise is, Does it accord with what 
is known of the existing conditions and necessities of the creation ; 
and whether, from the nature of things, is it possible for it to afford 
any aid in extending our knowledge as to what our duties are ? If 
positive evidence here is against it, then the subject may be dropped 
at once as worthless. 

But, before presenting those facts and considerations which, I think, 
supply us with positive evidence against the truth of this hypothesis, 
— assuming, for the present, that it may be true, — I will ask, What 
do passing events indicate as probable for the future ? 

In the absence of any more accurate knowledge in regard to the 
matter, if the past history of the race and the events transpiring at 



1 See Lecture by Dr. John W. Draper, before the Unitarian Ministers Insti- 
tute, at Springfield, Mass., Tenth month 11th, 1877. This chapter and the one 
next following were written shortly after this date. 



22 AN INQUIRY. 

the present time, should lead us to conclude that man, aided by his 
superior appliances and fertility of resources, must eventually come 
into complete control of the surface of the earth and all things that 
dwell thereon ; that the conditions of and relations between the va- 
rious orders and species of living things will be entirely governed, not 
by the uninterrupted operation of natural causes, but by the will of 
man; then it seems to me that the theory in question is at once 
greatly contracted in its interest. And if a further consideration of 
existing facts should prove conclusively that man himself cannot pos- 
sibly be the subject of natural development, it then becomes of no 
significance whatever, except, perhaps, for those who wish to exer- 
cise their imaginations with futile speculations about the distant 
past. 

It will not be denied that man is the highest order of creation. It 
is plainly to be seen that he is fast extending his domain and author- 
ity ; by his victorious march is crushed out and obliterated every in- 
ferior species that comes in his way. In the temperate zones, we see 
that the buffalo, wolf, elk, and all their congeners, are rapidly becom- 
ing extinct. In the tropics, the range of the gorilla, ape, lion, ele- 
phant, &c, is slowly but surely becoming contracted. Only four hun- 
dred years ago the Western continents were (at least for all intents 
and purposes) unknown to the European races. It has been but about 
two hundred years since the whole of North America, except a small 
district in Mexico, was one vast unbroken wilderness. It is still more 
recently that the civilization of Europe, for the first time, planted it- 
self in Australia and the Islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 
Therefore, if we may judge of the future by the progress that is now 
being made in this direction, the time will be short — certainly, com- 
pared with the eons of the geologist, it will be but as a moment — be- 
fore every foot of land in the habitable parts of the earth will be occu- 
pied and controlled by man. And wlien this shall have come to pass, 
is there the least probability that he will permit a single species to exist, 
except such as he shall have made subservient to his pleasure or ne- 
cessities. Not only are those classes of animals, already mentioned, 
destined to become obliterated, so far as their strictly natural condi- 
tion is concerned, but when all the land shall have been reclaimed and 
drained, — when all the swamps and marshes of the earth shall have 
given place to fertile fields, — with them will have passed into oblivion 
all that infinite variety of life with which stagnant water teems ; and 
a more perfect knowledge of chemistry and the kindred sciences will 



EVOLUTION. 23 

have banished from the earth the innumerable kinds of insects and 
parasites that prey upon animal and vegetable life. 

And if some of the denizens of the sea, with which it may be sup- 
posed man cannot so well interfere in their march toward civilization, 
should make their appearance upon land ; if the limbs of the porpoise 
should finally develop into feet and legs, and his abode in the sea 
should cease to be congenial ; if he should essay to meet his new con- 
dition by taking up his residence upon land, he will find no place in 
which to rest his unwieldy body, except districts thickly populated or 
covered by highly cultivated fields ; evolution would bring to him 
only a speedy death by the hand of man. The fate of species will 
then no longer be controlled by the " survival of the fittest," but by 
the survival of such as man may choose to let survive. "Natural 
selection " (at least in the sense in which we are now speaking) will 
have given place to a selection entirely artificial. 

In the first chapter of Genesis it is declared, that to man was given 
" dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and 
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," and he was com- 
manded to "replenish the earth and subdue it"; and this he seems 
destined to accomplish. 

From the foregoing considerations may we not safely conclude that 
whatever significance the development theory may have as to the past, 
man is the only part of animate creation that can be supposed to re- 
main permanently susceptible to the influence of natural evolution? 

But is man the creature of natural evolution ? 

In answering this question, it would seem that the evolutionist 
must restrict himself to a partial and one-sided view of the case. 
Whether the supposed facts relating to geology or embryology af- 
ford to his theory any legitimate support or not, it would seem that 
in the case of man, instead of taking the realities as he finds them, he 
must twist and manipulate them to suit his theory. Instead of for- 
mulating his theory according to the facts, he is here compelled to 
formulate the facts according to his theory. But we have before us 
a problem to be solved, — not by ingenuity, but by reality. 

Science or knowledge is important to mankind, only to the degree 
that it promotes the happiness and prosperity of man, by enabling 
him to fulfill the requirements of the design of his creation. Man's 
perception of the design of creation can extend no further than its 
connection with the fulfillment of his own requirements or duties. 
Anything more than this would be to him simply a superfluity. 



24 AN INQUIRY. 

We may discover that a certain thing exists, we may observe some 
of its properties, but its relation to God's design is quite another thing. 

To perceive the various objects of creation, by which we are sur- 
rounded, can be of no real use to us unless they are in some way con- 
nected with our own life-work, — the fulfillment of duty. All science 
or knowledge concerning them is useless, unless we are enabled to 
perceive them in their connection with, or relation to, our proper re- 
quirements. Therefore, the only question that can be decided that 
will be of any importance to us, — that can present us with a vital 
reality, — is : What are the proper requirements of the design of our 
creation ? or, In what relation does the matter that may be under 
consideration stand to the true requirements of man ? 

Now, in deciding this question, is it to be supposed that the apoc- 
ryphal evidence 1 afforded by the remains of an extinct species, or by 
the examination of an embryo, or by observation of the habits and 
properties of beasts, birds, etc., is of such vast importance that it 
must be received, even though we are thereby forced to ignore those 
conditions of existing humanity that are positively and plainly recog- 
nized as essential to our welfare ? If we may judge of his opinion by 
his precepts and example, the evolutionist's answer is in the affirma- 
tive. 

He makes the maintenance of those principles which experience 
has proved to be the basis of man's prosperity subservient to a 
certain self-imposed plan of investigation, — a certain "method of 
thought." 

In the disciples of the Moslem faith, he sees the consequences of 
fatalism, and regards it with horror ; but impelled by the necessities 
of the conception that is being born of his imagination, he accepts the 
essential doctrines of fatalism as truth, and proclaims them to the 
world as the deductions of science. 

The known facts — all history and experience — demonstrate, that 
the true prosperity of mankind depends on the acknowledgment of 
personal responsibility; yet the evolutionist is not deterred from 
holding forth as the requisites of science, doctrines which, if they 
have any significance at all, inevitably prove that man is nothing 
more than the creature of necessity. 

There are no two facts that will be more universally admitted by 
those who can perceive the relations of things in the light of actual 



1 Apocryphal, because it is necessarily incomplete. 



EVOLUTION. 25 

experience and truth, than : — 1st, In respect to the power to choose 
between right and wrong, man is a free agent ; 2nd, The Creator is 
not the author of transgression or evil. These two propositions are 
self-evident and must be regarded as axioms ; hence, any hypothesis 
based on the contrary may be at once dismissed. 

The idea of free-agency (free to obey or disobey) is based on the 
power to change ; but an unchangeable mode of action or law pre- 
supposes unchangeableness or entire uniformity in the subject which 
it acts upon or governs. If a process is unchangeably perfect, so 
must be the thing produced. The idea of evil evolving good, or 
good evolving evil, as the result of an unchangeable and perfect 
mode of action, is simply an absurdity. 

"Grapes do not grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles." "A good 
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring 
forth good fruit, - ' — Matt vii. 18. 

An imperfect mode of action cannot produce a perfect result : a 
perfect mode of action connot produce an imperfect result. Hence, to 
acknowledge that man is a transgressor, — that his present condition is 
contaminated by imperfection or sin, — is but to acknowledge that 
he is not the natural, which here means inevitable, result of a perfect 
mode of action. This is equivalent to saying, that his present condi- 
tion is not in accordance with the perfect and unchangeable law or 
design of God, — hence not the result of natural evolution. 

On the other hand, to maintain that man is not a transgressor, that 
he is not contaminated by sin (the transgression of the law), is but to 
maintain that all the injustice, all the cruelty, and all the suffering 
and debauchery among mankind, is but the natural result of perfect 
and unchangeable law. This is to say, that it is in accordance with 
the design of the Creator ; and if according to His design, then He is 
the author of it, and man cannot in justice be held responsible. 

Here we have the two horns of a dilemma, to which, if the hypoth- 
esis of evolution be true, we are limited in our choice. 

To say that the human race, as it now exists, has been naturally 
developed by the operation of perfect and unchangeable laws, or by a 
mode of action entirely in accordance with the design of a perfect in- 
telligence, is but to say that every stage of the process must have 
been, and must still be, perfect. An acorn is not a perfect oak, 
neither is it a defective or imperfect oak, for it is not an oak at all; 
but if it has been produced by a perfect mode of action, it must, as a 
matter of course, be a perfect germ or acorn : and for just the same 



26 AN INQUIRY. 

reason the orignal cell or primary germ was not a perfect man ; 
"but, if it was the result of perfect law, it must have been a perfect cell. 
And man as we find him to-day, being but a further development by 
the same perfect and unchanging law, must still be perfect ; or in 
other words, the idea excludes from the world anything in the nature 
of transgression or sin. Sin is the transgression of the law designed 
by the Creator ; but, if man has been developed naturally by the op- 
eration of unvarying law, his present condition, all his qualifications 
and relations, must be strictly in accordance with that unvarying law. 
But transgression is a condition antagonistic to the law. And it is 
not conceivable that the natural operation of unchanging law should 
be productive of something having the power to antagonize that law. 
The natural operation of unvarying law cannot confer on the subject 
of its government any power to antagonize itself, — the law. When 
a law has produced or permits antagonistic effects, it has ceased to be 
unchangeable, because its operation has become variable. Hence, a 
creature having the qualification of free agency, or the power to trans- 
gress, or to antagonize the law, could not possibly have been pro- 
duced by natural development. Natural development is utterly in- 
conceivable, except as the result of an unchanging mode of action or 
law. So, if man is the result of natural development, it follows that 
he can have no choice in the matter, — he must be strictly the crea- 
ture of an unvarying mode of action, — and there can be no such 
thing as transgression. 

This being the case, it will be observed that the necessities of this 
theory forces the conclusion that all that we now call sin, all the in- 
justice and debauchery among mankind, is not sin at all ; because it 
must have been produced by the operation of a perfect and unvary- 
ing mode of action or law. For surely we cannot suppose that the 
perfect laws of God could, by their natural and unchanging operation, 
produce anything antagonistic to the prosperity or elevation of the 
race. Certainly, the natural and unvarying operation of a perfect law 
will not produce anything that we can correctly call degradation. 
And if this injustice and debauchery, with its consequent suffering, is 
a provision of Deity, the natural effect of which is to elevate the race, 
then how can we escape the further conclusion, that the more we 
have of it the better it will be for us. 

Yet I apprehend that there are but few parents, with any intelli- 
gent appreciation of the realities of life, who would not shrink from 
educating their children to its influence. The sot may endure inde- 



EVOLUTION. 27 

scribable suffering, but that does not give him power to resist the 
temptation. 

I should think that a single visit to some of the slums of our cities 
would be sufficient to satisfy any one in regard to the elevating ten- 
dency of what we have been taught, must we say by the superstitions 
of our fathers, to denominate transgression or crime. 

To assert that man is a free agent, and that his present condition 
is but the natural result of a perfect and unchangeable mode of 
action, is equivalent to asserting that he " is just the creature that 
a being possessing free agency must naturally be," or, as Prof. Draper 
puts it, " We are what we are, because the universe is what it is." 1 

These declarations, I believe, are the inevitable and logical deduc- 
tions of the development theory ; and that fact alone is sufficient to 
show its absurdity. For if man is "just the creature that a free 
agent must be," then surely the responsibility of his condition rests, 
not with himself, but with the power that made him a free agent. 
Therefore, if "man is just the creature that a being possessing free 
agency must naturally be," as a matter of course he is just not a free 
agent at all ; for the whole idea of free agency rests on the fact that 
he might have been different if he chose. 

If "we are what we are, because the universe is what it is," or if 
we are "just the creatures we must be," then it will take something 
very different from sound reasoning to make it appear that we are 
in any degree personally responsible for the condition in which we 
may, at any time, either present or future, happen to find ourselves. 

Yet it is the feeling or acknowledgment of personal responsibility 
that gives strength and stability to a community or a nation. It is 
this that makes the difference between the upright man and the 
villain ; or between the law-abiding citizen and the " communist." 
Hence, it appears that the evolutionist would have us admit to the 
realm of truth a theory which, in its legitimate consequences, is sub- 
versive of social order. We are told (substantially) that science — the 
knowledge of truth — has forced us to recognize the will or design of 
God in a condition of things utterly at variance with those principles 
which must ever be the foundation of human prosperity. The sup- 
porter of this hypothesis must himself admit that this is but to dis- 
grace the very name of science ; yet, if he can make it appear that 
it is not the proper and plain deduction from the views which he is 

1 Lecture before Unitarian Institute. 



28 AN INQUIRY. 

promulgating, it must be by surrounding his scheme with such a fig- 
ment of special pleading, that even those devices of the theologist, 
for which our "scientists" profess so little admiration, would barely 
furnish a parallel. 

The development theory is based on the supposition of unchange- 
able law. It rests on the idea, that there is no necessity for the in- 
tervention of the original Creative Power; just as Christianity rests 
on the idea, that there is such a necessity, and that such an interven- 
tion does actually take place. 

If it could be proved that man can accomplish the design of his 
creation without the intervention of the Divine Power, that natural 
causes are sufficient to account for his improvement, then all the doc- 
trins and claims peculiar to the religion of Christ at once lose their 
significance. Just as if, on the other hand, it should be proved that 
any real improvement in the condition of mankind is impossible ex- 
cept by the intervention of the Divine Power, the theory of natural 
evolution must immediately fall lifeless to the ground. This, the 
necessity or non-necessity of Divine intervention, is the point on 
which the whole matter in controversy turns. In fact, this is the only 
point at issue ; and except so far as they may bear on this, all ques- 
tions respecting natural science, so far as Christianity is concerned, 
may with safety be left for those who are specially devoted to the 
study of natural things, to controvert among themselves. And it 
may be remarked in passing, that, except in regard to this point, the 
doctrines of Christianity have never yet produced any controversy be- 
tween religion and the natural "scientists," — the doctrines of Christi- 
anity had no more agency in causing the persecution of Galileo, than 
they had in causing the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. 

We have heard much of late about "the warfare of science," the 
"conflict between religion and science, etc."; but, let it be remem- 
bered, that the victories of which " science " now boasts so loudly — 
and, perhaps, justly, too — were not won in contests where the issue 
was caused by the necessities of Christian doctrines, but by the neces- 
sities, or rather the worldly policy, of a class of men whose very ex- 
istence as a class, depended, as they supposed, on their success in 
upholding certain dogmas on which had been established a powerful 
hierarchy, that had falsely assumed the Christian name. And it 
seems to me that the physical " scientist " does but little for the 
credit of his great pretensions to precision of method and care in 
forming conclusions, when he now assumes that, because he has not 



EVOLUTION. 29 

been overwhelmed by the shams and pretences of a false profession, 
he may ascribe to his narrow province (which is confined to the obser- 
vation of natural phenomena and experimental investigation) all that 
can be known of the designs of God. 

Keturning to the matter immediately under consideration, if the 
necessity or non-necessity of the interposition of the Divine Power is 
the only point at issue, then our success in solving the question must 
depend very much on keeping the attention closely engaged to ob- 
serve the bearings of the facts on that phase of the subject. Keeping 
this in mind, let us proceed. 

It cannot be denied that man is a morally responsible creature. 
He has the power of choice : he may obey or disobey. Which has 
he done ? I think no one will deny that at least a great part of man- 
kind have disobeyed : I think there is much in the present condition 
of the human race that no one will pretend results from obedience to 
the laws of God. Development is only supposable on the ground 
that the subject continues amenable to the laws of development. 
For a higher development we must depend entirely on obedience to 
the perfect laws of God. When we transgress those laws we cease to 
receive their benefit, — we then become subject to transgression, the 
development of degradation. 

It must be remembered that by " law " we here mean simply a 
"mode of action," — the mode of action instituted or provided by 
Deity for the accomplishment of His purpose. Hence, to transgress 
a law is to obstruct and vitiate the process or intended result of that 
law, which, so far as that individual is concerned, would cease in its 
effect and be void. He, the individual, would thus be placed in a 
condition which, being contrary to the design of Deity, cannot be the 
natural or intended result of any perfect law. Indeed, being a con- 
dition of imperfection, antagonistic to His design, it could not have 
entered into the consideration of or been provided for in that design, 
in a system that was based entirely on perfection. 

That which is antagonistic to God's design could not possibly have 
been included in it, or correctly be said to have formed a part of it. 
Hence, a transgressor would be an exceptional case, and would require 
exceptional treatment ; which means flexible or intelligent treatment ; 
but this, not being possible under the rule of inflexible law, could 
only be obtained by the immediate assistance or special interposition 
of the original Creative Power. 

In other words, if man is a transgressor at all, it must be because 



30 AN INQUIRY. 

he opposes or obstructs the mode of action instituted by the Creator ; 
for this is what constitutes transgression ; and, unquestionably it 
would produce, in his condition, a change antagonistic to the design 
of his creation. Such a change in his condition would necessitate in 
his particular case (at least if he is to be restored) a change or re-ad- 
justment of the mode of action. But the laws of the Creator can be 
re-adjusted only by the Creator himself; that is, by His intervention. 
This will be seen more clearly when we come to speak particularly of 
the nature of man's transgression. 1 

To suppose that a man can violate the laws of God and still con- 
tinue to receive their benefit, or still continue to develop or improve, 
is but to suppose that it makes no difference whether he violates 
them or not, — a position that is simply absurd. But if we suppose 
that when he violates a law he ceases to be benefited by it, and fur- 
ther affirm that there is no intervention of the Divine Power, we 
must inevitably conclude that if he is to be restored to the benefit of 
the law, or mode of action that he has violated, or to a condition of 
improvement, it must be by virtue of his own power to act in the 
matter. We must ascribe to him a power that, practically, we have 
denied to his Creator : he must re-adjust that which has never varied, 
or overcome a mode of action that is unchangeable, and which has 
already overcome him, — which is also absurd. 

Sound reason and experience both demonstrate, that to transgress 
the design of God is to become " dead " to that design ; and it is not 
in the nature of things that anything which is dead can have power 
to restore itself to life : therefore, if man's restoration does not come 
immediately from a supernatural source, then it does not come at all, 
and we are at the end of the matter. 

A government in which the law-giver (wisdom or comprehensive 
intelligence) has ceased to interfere, must either have deprived its. 
subjects of the power to transgress, or else become a government of 
transgression. 

The subject of our examination is not in regard to the changeable- 

1 To constitute a responsible creature or free agent, transgression cannot be 
a necessity, but it must necessarily be a possibility. If it were impossible for 
man to disobey, his condition would, of necessity, be the mere result of an ir- 
resistible mode of action : he would have no choice in the matter, and conse- 
quently would be a creature absolutely without responsibility. Yet it would 
seem that disobedience is utterly irreconcilable with the inflexible and indis- 
criminating reign of unchangeable or irresistible law. 



EVOLUTION. 31 

ness of the attributes of Deity, nor yet of the attributes of trans- 
gression; but it is in regard to the mode of action or treatment that 
the present condition of man requires. The dispute is not in regard 
to the nature of Deity, but the necessities of man. I apprehend no 
one will for a moment doubt, that both the attributes of wisdom and 
of transgression are unchanging and unchangeable in their nature. 
Justice, humility, patience, and love will invariably produce happi- 
ness and felicity; and covetousness, pride, cruelty, and jealousy will 
invariably produce unhappiness and misery. But let it be remem- 
bered that those attributes which produce happiness are not the 
natural attributes of man, but of Deity, and man can possess them 
or come under their influence only as he receives them from Deity : 
and this being the case, it follows that the mode of action by which 
man becomes possessed of them must be adapted to his condition. 
If the condition of man is variable and changing, then, of course, 
the mode of action must be flexible, or immediately under the control 
of active intelligence. A variable condition necessitates either a 
variable or flexible treatment, or a partial and unjust one. 

The progress or development of the race, in the view of the evo- 
lutionist, is based on " natural- selection" and "the survival of the 
fittest." In his view, supernatural interference cannot enter into the 
consideration of the case. Hence, the success of an individual in the 
struggle to survive must depend entirely on three conditions : — ■ 

Favorable surroundings ; physical capacity ; mental capacity. 

According to this idea, their surroundings and physical capacity 
being equal, the man with " five talents " has no chance whatever to 
compete in the struggle to survive with the man of "ten talents;" 
and as to the person with " one talent," he had just as well as not to 
"hide it in the earth," and save himself the trouble of the effort. 
In fact, this seems to be nothing different practically from the old 
doctrine of predestination, except, perhaps, it now appears stripped 
of its clerical robes. 

Perhaps we may be told that success depends mainly on being care- 
ful to observe the laws of nature ; but it would still depend just as 
much on capacity, — the capacity to comprehend the laws of nature. 
And then, how is a knowledge of the laws of nature to be obtained ? 
It will be answered, by observation and investigation. But for far 
the greater part of mankind, any extended or comprehensive investi- 
gation of nature's laws is an impossibility, because their time is 
almost entirely occupied in obtaining food, clothing, and shelter for 



32 AN INQUIRY. 

themselves and families. Hence, they must take their knowledge at 
second-hand ; and, as they cannot expect to have it for nothing, they 
will be under the necessity to set apart with a stipend certain of their 
number to investigate and draw conclusions for them, — very much 
after the fashion of the priests and clergy of the different sects of 
Christendom. It is an old saying that " extremes meet," and that 
some things, particularly errors, are very prone to run in a circle. 

It would seem that the evolutionist is justly liable to have charged 
against him the complaint that was formerly made to the prophet 
concerning the children of Israel : — " The children of thy people say 
the way of the Lord is not equal : but as for them, their way is not 
equal." — Ezek. xxx. 17. 

If he could show how an adverse environment can be produced 
by perfect and unvarying laws, our theorist, so long as he confined 
his observations to the inferior orders of creation, would have before 
him a comparatively simple task. In regard to them, he could then 
give full scope to his fancy. He could bring the principles of " nat- 
ural selection" and the "survival of the fittest," and the influences 
of " environment " and "adaptation" and "heredity" to bear on them 
with comparative impunity; because, having no choice in the matter, 
they are really, to a great degree, the creatures of their environment. 
But, with man the case is different : he is a responsible creature. 
But, as he could not possibly (at least, with any show of justice) be 
held responsible for a condition that he could not avoid, it plainly 
appears that his responsibility must rest on the fact, that he poss* 
within himself the capacity to overcome the influences of his environ- 
ment. But we have the best of evidence, that of actual experience, 
that — considered as strictly a natural creature, having regard only 
to the powers of his natural faculties — man, in common with the in- 
ferior creation, has not the power to successfully resist the influences 
of his surroundings. 

But the environment that influences the natural man is, in many re- 
spects, very different in its nature from that of the lower orders of ani- 
mals. The possession of a vastly higher order of intellect, and con- 
sequent great facility in manipulating the various objects of creation 
which he can perceive around him, in connection with the fact that he 
is a transgressor; that, in his arrangements or use of these objects, 
not being governed by the law or design of God, has brought into his 
environment influences of an entirely different character and far more 
powerful than any that can possibly naturally affect the inferior ere- 



EVOLUTION. 33 

ation. Take, for instance, the use of intoxicating drink : the pro- 
duction of alcoholic liquors is an impossibility to the lower orders of 
animals, yet in the environment of. man this exerts a most powerful 
influence, affecting both his mental and physical condition. The nat- 
ural appetites lead him to indulge in strong drink, — indulgence leads 
to drunkenness, and drunkenness to abject misery. But, we see men 
with rational powers of the highest order, whose minds are replete 
with culture, with all the misery entailed by this indulgence staring 
them in the face, yet they are more completely enslaved by it than 
ever was the Negro of the South to his master. And although the 
misery may be increased, yet his power to resist it is decreased with 
each successive indulgence. "What is in these respects true in regard 
to drinking is just as true in regard to his other sensual propensities, 
or j)ride or ambition. In their natural condition, some men are sub- 
ject to one thing and some to another. The environment that influ- 
ences the natural man is an environment of the fruits of transgres- 
sions, sin, and degradation. In his case, as the result of " natural 
selection" and "adaptation," we have the self-sufficient bigot, the ty- 
rant, the purse-proud oppressor of the poor, the peculator and swind- 
ler, the devotee of fashion, the debauchee in the gutter. 

If man has no natural capacity to resist these things, then the idea 
of his responsibility, and also the idea of his improvement, must rest 
entirely on the fact, that he has within his reach a supernatural power ; 
that he may call on a Saviour to interpose His aid. 

And this truth brings to us additional and conclusive evidence that 
the development theory is utterly incompatible with the indisputable 
fact, that man is an accountable or responsible creature ; for, as be- 
fore observed, the development theory precludes the possibility of 
God's interfering with the affairs of men : — " It will not admit," says 
Prof. Draper, "that there has been any intervention of the Divine 
Power." 

Now, if I understand his position, the most extreme evolutionist 
if he acknowledges -a Creator at all, does not deny His power to in- 
terfere : he simply maintains that the Creator does not and will not 
interfere, because there is no necessity for it. He supposes that the 
plan of creation was so comprehensive, that in the institution of law 
the relation of cause and effect was so well considered, and the whole 
conception was so absolutely perfect, that no necessity of re-adjustment 
can ever possibly occur. 

If I cast a stone into the air, I feel quite certain that it will return 



34 AN INQUIRY. 

to the earth. If I should have occasion to throw it an infinite num- 
ber of times, I should still not have the least doubt but that it would 
in like manner return at each experiment. But I expect its return 
only because I appreherfd its suspension in the air would subserve 
none of the purposes of the Creator. But if it were possible to sup- 
pose that its suspension would subserve such a purpose, we cannot do 
other than admit that He, who had power to institute the law of grav- 
itation, must also have power to withhold the stone from the opera- 
tion of that law ; and, as He stands in exactly the same relation to 
all the laws by which the universe is governed, if He has power to 
suspend the law of gravitation, then, as a matter of course, He must 
in like manner have power to suspend any of the other laws of nature, 
if it should at any time subserve Him a purpose to do so. 

I have already shown, that man's freedom to obey or disobey pre- 
sented a possible occasion which, by his transgression, has become an 
actual occasion, wherein a suspension or re-adjustment of certain laws 
does subserve a purpose. That the condition of man actually re- 
quires that such an interference should take place ; and further, unless 
such an interference is possible, man cannot be considered an account- 
able being. 

But, I think, there is yet another consideration in which the neces- 
sity of such intervention is presented with still greater force. 

The acknowledgment that man is an immortal being brings to us 
responsibilities that would not be embraced in the requirements of a 
strictly earthly existence. It presents to us the fact that this is but 
a place of preparation : an opportunity offered wherein we may pre- 
pare to enter upon a state of existence purely spiritual. And being 
a free agent — a responsible creature — this preparation must be an in- 
telligent one. An intelligent preparation for an infinite state of ex- 
istence necessarily supposes some knowledge of infinite conditions ; 
but the knowledge acquired by any natural process during a finite 
state of existence is inevitably limited to natural or finite things. 
Considered as purely a natural being, all the information that man 
can possibly become possessed of, must come through the medium of 
his five natural senses, — taste, touch, hearing, sight, and smell. In 
the exercise of his powers for ratiocination, all his deductions as to 
the past, present, or future must be based on knowledge so obtained. 
Hence, a knowledge of infinite or supernatural conditions is impossi- 
ble unless it be received from a supernatural source. That is to say: 



EVOLUTION. 35 

it can only be received by the immediate assistance or interposition 
of God, — immediate Divine revelation. 

But the development theory " will not admit that there has been 
any intervention of the Divine Power." Therefore, if that hypothesis 
were true, it has been and still is impossible for man to make any 
intelligent preparation for an infinite condition. 

In bringing the universe into existence, the Creator either had or 
had not an intelligent plan or design : if He had not, then the forces 
of nature were brought into operation without regard either to their 
inter-relation or the ultimate consequences. 

This would be to institute, not the reign of law, but of lawlessness ; 
which, I suppose, is not only utterly inconsistent with the idea of the 
evolutionist, but with every other idea that is in the least degree 
worthy of consideration. But, if God had a definite design in creat- 
ing the universe, and if man, an integral part of the universe, is an 
accountable being, then his accountability must rest on the fact, that 
it is left to his own option whether to fulfill or not to fulfill the design 
of his creation ; but the possibility of his making a choice in the 
matter must be due entirely to the fact, that it is possible for him to 
obtain an intelligent idea of what the design of an infinite Creator 
requires of him. 

In a city not far distant from where I am now writing, a certain 
association has in its possession a figure, representing a man endeav- 
oring to lift himself from the earth by pulling at the sides of a box 
on which he stands. This has occasionally been placed in public 
exhibitions, in company with effete perpetual-motion machines and 
other alchemical designs; no doubt intending by it to suggest the 
height of absurdity. Now, after having considered well all that may 
be suggested by this toy, what must be the opinion in regard to the 
wisdom of those who, while claiming to be the leaders of " advanced 
thought," the high-priests of science, are nevertheless to be found 
engaged in the effort to comprehend the designs of Infinite Intelli- 
gence by the exercise of a finite understanding. 

If I should seriously propose to lift myself from the earth by pull- 
ing at the straps of my boots, I would very properly be looked upon 
as one bereft of his senses. But when I undertake to elevate myself 
to the comprehension of an infinite design by exercising the strength 
of my finite faculties on an accumulation of finite realities, I am re- 
garded as one of the lights of science, and the praise of my wisdom 



36 -AX INQUIRY. 

and ingenuity resounds throughout the world ; but, notwithstanding 
all this, the absurdity of the one is not greater than that of the other. 
To suppose that we can obtain a knowledge of an infinite Creator's 
will or design, while our resources are limited to our natural facul- 
ties, to the perception of finite realities, is but to suppose an effect 
without any adequate cause : a supposition as thoroughly unscien- 
tific as ever was that ancient conception which gave the earth a sup- 
port on the back of a turtle. 



CHAPTEE II. 

CHRISTIANITY. 

"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. — Matt. xxi. 42. 
" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God " — 
Matt. iv. 4. 

WE liave seen that no hypothesis concerning the relations of man- 
kind to the universe can lay any just claim to true science, un- 
less it takes into consideration facts relating both to finite and infinite 
conditions. This, it appears, the development theory fails to do : let 
us now examine if Christianity stands on any broader foundation. 

It must be further observed, that if the finite condition is but an 
opportunity afforded us to prepare for the infinite condition, then 
finite facts receive their chief importance from their relation to infinite 
facts. If with the death of my body I cease to exist, the manner of 
conducting my present life would be to me, comparatively, of little 
importance ; but if my present life has brought with it the privilege 
of preparing for an eternal life of infinite felicity, then the manner 
of it becomes of inestimable importance : but it is important, because 
of its relation to the future. 

Finite facts may be perceived by finite faculties, but their relations 
to infinite facts, just like infinite facts themselves, can be compre- 
hended only by a mind of infinite intelligence. 

By the use of my natural faculties I am made aware that my body 
requires food and clothing ; by observation I discover means by which 
I can obtain them. I can plant, and reap, and gather the harvest by 
the aid of my natural faculties alone ; but, as the present life is 
mainly important as an opportunity to prepare for the future, it be- 
comes essential that in caring for my body I should have due refer- 
ence to the care of my soul. 

The relation between the care of my body and that of my soul is 
the relation of the finite to the infinite. Therefore, it will be seen, 



38 AN INQUIRY. 

that even to exercise my natural faculties, with a due reference to my 
highest interests, is impossible, except I am directed therein by a 
mind of infinite intelligence. 

Hence man cannot be perfect, that is, he cannot completely fulfill 
the design of his creation, except he lives under the immediate guid- 
ance of his Creator. 

Now without stopping to inquire as to the manner of his creation, 
— treating as a matter of indifference, for the present, whether vast 
periods of time were occupied in the process, or whether he was sud- 
denly brought forth by a fiat of the Almighty, there is one thing that 
cannot be denied, and that is the fact, that up to the time that he 
exercised the power of choice he must have been a perfect creature : 
for it is impossible to suppose that God could create any other than 
a perfect creature. We have just seen that in this case perfection is 
possible only under the immediate guidance of infinite intelligence. 

Therefore, we are forced to conclude that man was originally cre- 
ated "in the image of God;" in other words, when newly created his 
mind was but the reflection of the Divine mind. 

He was thus a well-balanced, rational, and immortal creature, fit to 
be pronounced "good." But he was a free agent ; whether to remain 
under the immediate government of his Creator, or to separate him- 
self from it, was a matter for his choice. 

Now, if we acknowledge, as the present condition of the race will 
compel us to do, that mankind at some period or other, has become 
separated from the "presence," or immediate government of his Cre- 
ator; that his mind has ceased to be the reflection of the Divine mind, 
and hence "dead " as to the design of his creation ; there can be no 
possible reason for not supposing, according to the account in Genesis, 
that this change took place in the persons of the first parents of the 
race. And their changed condition would continue to be the natural 
condition of their descendants. 

" By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." 

Our first parents were the immediate creation of God, and for this 
reason, as already observed, must have been originally perfect and 
" good " in every respect. 1 But this is not the case with their pos- 

1 It is plain that our first parents were not created sinners, and for the same 
reason it is equally plain that they could not have had originally in their na- 
ture any seed of sin,— that is, any faculty or principle which would,, of its own 
nature, or naturally, produce sin. A seed of anything is something which, in 
its development, does of its own nature, or naturally and inevitably, reproduce 



CUB IS TIA XI TY. 39 

terity : for they (posterity) were, and still are, created not imme- 
diately by God, but mediately, — that is, by natural generation, in 
which they themselves are the mediums or agents. 

And it is on this fact that the theory of Christianity, so far as it 
can be called a theory, must rest. For if it were possible for the 
children of Adam in their own nature to present a perfect exemplifi- 
cation of the design of God, (as they would necessarily, if they were 
either His immediate creation, or exactly like His immediate crea- 
tion,) then there would be no necessity for them to depend for their 
salvation on the mediatorial offices of a "special", "miraculous", or 
"new" creation. 

If any one supposes that the posterity of Adam were not affected 
by his "fall" or changed condition, consequent upon transgression, 
claiming that man is still brought into the world as perfect, as to 
natural conditions and capacity, as our first parents were, I think 
they will see the fallacy of their position when they consider well the 
facts of the case. As has already been repeated, our first parents, be- 
ing the immediate creatures of God's creation, must have been per- 
fect in every respect. 

But it is a fact patent to all that, as he comes into the world to-day, 
man is very far from being perfect in every respect. We see not 
only that many children are born with unbalanced mental powers and 
affected with various diseases and deformities, but also that very 
many are begotten and brought into the world under circumstances 
and conditions, which, so far from being His immediate act, we are 
bound to suppose are directly contrary to God's will or design. 

And, moreover, if a child was born as perfect as we must suppose 
an immediate creation of God to be, then its appetites, impulses, and 
desires would at first (that is, before the development of rational 
powers brings to it responsibility) be so well balanced, that they would 

that thing of which it is the seed. A seed of sin could not have been either 
created or planted by a perfectly beneficent creator, and therefore could not 
have formed any part of the original nature or attributes of a creature created 
by that creator. Man being a free agent, — free to obey or disobey, — it was as 
a matter of course possible, not a necessity, for him to divert his faculties, and 
also the things over which he had " dominion," from the purposes intended 
by the Creator. It was this diversion or misuse of his " good " faculties, the 
result of his free choice, — the act of man, not of God, — that gave entrance to 
the seed of sin, and formed a ground-work for it. And in this, an act of man 
freely performed, we have — at least so far as its connection with mankind is 
concerned — the beginning or origin both of sin and the seed of it. 



40 AN INQUIRY. 

not need any restraint or control. But we all know that an unre- 
strained indulgence of them would soon result in disease or death. 

Again, — to acknowledge that in their original condition the minds 
of our first parents must have been entirely under the influence of 
their Creator, reflecting nothing but the "image of God," (and this 
fact cannot be controverted,) is equivalent to acknowledging that .the 
Divine influence or " light " was the first actuating principle or power 
known to them : consequently it was this which gave form to their 
first nature, and it may thus properly be said to have been theirs by 
nature, — that is, inherent or natural to them. 

Now, as has just been stated, we need go no further than our own 
experience to discover, that the principle or power which first actuates 
the minds of their posterity is not Divine intelligence, but the ani- 
mal instincts or carnal lusts ; and to be under the government of the 
carnal lusts is to be " dead " to the Divine government. If so soon 
as we come into existence, we at once or naturally yield to influences 
which are directly antagonistic to the Divine influence, — which is to 
say, if we are born into a state of death as to the Divine influence, — 
it is plain that the Divine influence cannot be said to be inherent in 
us, or to form any part of our nature ; and if it is not natural to us, 
of course it has become supernatural. For, if we are by nature 
"dead," it is plain that, if we are to become alive, it must be by the 
operation of some power superior to our nature; and, if superior to 
it, of course it is not inherent in it, or a part thereof. 

That we are naturally " dead " to righteousness, or that our natural 
or inherent instincts only lead us to produce unrighteousness, is fur- 
ther proved by the fact, that a condition of moral rectitude can be 
maintained only by a continual struggle, — a state of constant " watch- 
fulness :" in other words, by a repression of the natural instincts; and 
this requires the active " presence " of a power that is superior to 
them. 

It is perfectly plain, that anything produced through the medium 
of an agent receives its impress, as to its perfection or imperfection, 
not from the original designer, but from the character of the agent. 
A thing produced through an agent will approach no nearer to per- 
fection than does the agent himself. 

This being the case, it is plainly manifest that our first parents, or 
any other parents, did not transmit to their natural offspring any in- 
fluence or power that they did not at the time possess naturally them- 
selves. If they had lost the power of spiritual perception, — if the 



CHR IS TIA NITY. 41 

Divine influence had ceased to be a part of their nature, — then their 
offspring would naturally be without it. 

Our first parents' minds were originally the reflection of the Divine 
mind. They were free to keep this condition, or to reject it. They 
did reject it, and thus it did cease to be a part of their nature ; there- 
fore their offspring would naturally be without it. If they receive it 
at' all, it must be supernaturally. With the parent, the choice was at 
first a matter of rejection ; with the children, it is a matter of recep- 
tion. With the latter, it is something to be sought after; and men 
do not have to seek for what they already possess or have naturally. 
With the parent, its presence was the normal condition of their crea- 
tion ; with the children, its absence is the normal condition of their 
creation. 

Recognizing this fact, the apostle declared : "The natural man re- 
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness 
unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 
cerned." — 1 Cor. ii. 14. Here we also find the truth of the declara- 
tion : " In Adam all die " ; therefore, although the posterity of Adam 
comes into the world innocent, (" sin is the transgression of the law," 
and each individual can be justly held responsible only for his own 
transgressions,) yet they are without any natural or inherent capa- 
city by which they can attain to a knowledge of the law of righteous- 
ness; and, if ignorant of that law, then they are "dead " as to the 
ability to obey it. And while they remain in this state (dead to the 
perception of God), all their works can profit them nothing as to sal- 
vation : for to be saved is to fulfill the design of creation ; and it 
cannot be fulfilled while they are dead to the perception of what God 
requires. 

Before going further, perhaps it will not be improper to inquire 
how far the creation at large was affected by the " fall " of man. As 
I have already had occasion to show, the influence of man on the in- 
ferior creation is most extensive and powerful ; and it appears that 
he makes progress in ordering and bringing it under his "dominion" 
just so far as he himself comes under the dominion of civilization or 
improvement. Therefore, if I shall succeed, as I hope to do, in prov- 
ing that his civilization or improvement is entirely because of his 
nearer approach to his pristine condition ; that it is altogether because 
of his coming more and more under the guidance of his Creator, — 
his mind coming to be more and more the reflection of the Divine 
mind, — I say, if his "dominion" over the rest of creation is exactly 



42 AN INQUIRY. 

proportionate to the progress of his restoration to his pristine con- 
dition, then we will have sufficient ground to suppose that, if the hu- 
man race should ever become completely restored to its pristine con- 
dition, " every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth " 
will then have become completely under its "dominion " : or, in other 
words, in his pristine condition man was "lord of creation," — that 
it was designed that he should " dress " the " garden " that had I 
created or planted by God, and "keep it: " his allotment was. to 
"replenish the earth and subdue it." The creation was to receive 
the impress of its Creator only through man, its "lord." Hence, 
when man ceased to be guided by the Creator, all the creation ceased 
to receive His impress, and the earth ceased to be " Eden." 

Thus far the deductions, or rather realities, on which Christianity 
rests, are not only reasonable, but they are the only reasonable con- 
clusions to be derived from the facts : it now remains to consider the 
means provided for the restoration of mankind. 

In man was the creation finished : he was not only the highest 
order of created things, but to him was given the " dominion " over 
all the rest. By him the world was to be governed, — all things ar- 
ranged and kept in their proper place. But this was possible only 
while he remained in the " presence " of, or under the direction of his 
Creator. Depriving himself of the "presence" of God, "he was no 
longer able to comprehend the relations of things as they were de- 
signed by Infinite Intelligence, — for his powers of perception were 
now limited entirely to finite things. 

This being the case, he could perceive things only in their relation 
to the gratification of his own carnal appetites and propensities. Ig- 
norant of the proper use of things, as intended by his Creator, his 
effort is to make them all subservient to the gratification of his own 
lusts. The spirit of the world (the spirit of him who had been given 
u dominion " in the world) had become at enmity with God. 

Man was still a free agent : if he should receive again the knowl- 
edge of God, it must be by his own free choice. But how can he 
choose that which he has no power to perceive ? In losing the " pres- 
ence of God," he had lost all that connected him with his Creator. 
He now possessed nothing to which the Creator could have respecl 
or esteem : for how could man love or obey Him of whom he wavS 
ignorant? The world contained nothing that was worthy of (that 
could perceive or receive) the Creator's love, and it was only by the 
Creator's love that it could be saved or restored. 



CHR IS TIA XI TY. 43. 

Hence, the only hope for the world was, that God would yet create- 
therein something that he could esteem, between which and Himself 
there could be co-operation and reciprocating love ; something that 
could perform His will and which would have power to change man 
into its own nature. And God promised, even to Adam, that He 
would, in the fullness of time or at the proper time, bring this forth. 
And as it was to be the Saviour of men, it should come forth, as to 
the outward, in the likeness of the first Adam ; that it should appear 
as the "son of man," and as the "seed of the woman." 

Whether to receive this Saviour or not was still to be a matter for 
man's free choh e : he was still a free agent ; but he had lost his 
spiritual perceptions : as before observed, he could not possibly choose 
that which he could not perceive the necessity of. Therefore did 
God, as He continues to do, implant in the heart of every son and 
daughter of Adam a germ or seed of that generation or kingdom 
which was to and did receive its perfect outward exemplification in 
the person of the "new creature," Jesus Christ. 

This seed, the " Gift" or " Grace of God," in its efforts to expand 
and grow, to exercise its proper functions, to give light, (though it be 
at first as a light shining in a dark place), causes man to feel some- 
thing of the judgments of God, and to feel the need of something 
that he does not possess ; which feeling, if it is not resisted, tends to 
weaken his dependence on his own natural resources or finite facul- 
ties, and he is thus led to desire or seek for a more sure foundation 
to build upon. 

This seeking state, which is a state of repentance, an effort to turn 
away from darkness, is to this "seed" what cultivation (the mellow- 
ing of the soil and removal of weeds) is to the outward plant, it gives 
it room to grow and expand ; and as man thus gives place to it, like 
the " leaven " in the meal, it will not cease to extend its influence 
until it renews the whole heart and mind. 

As the morning sun overcomes the darkness of the night, so will 
it overcome the darkness of our minds, make us free from transgres- 
sion, and blot out all our sins. I say all this takes place if it is not 
resisted ; for it must be remembered that man is all the time a free 
agent. Though it is declared that " even the dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God," it is only such as "hear " (hearken or give 
heed to) "shall live." 

It is in reference to this, his seed in the heart, that Christ is re- 
ferred to throughout the Scriptures as being " pressed down as a cart 



44 AN IN Q VIET. 

under sheaves," "persecuted," and "slain all the day long" in the 
hearts of the wicked. 

It is those who, after permitting this " seed " to partially enlighten 
their minds, have yet rejected it, of whom the apostle declares, " that 
they have crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh." 

It was through the medium of this " seed " that God communicated 
with the " old world." It was this that enabled Enoch to " walk with 
God." It was by " faith " in this that Abraham obtained the favor 
of God, and was honored with the promise, that of his seed should 
come forth (as to the outward) he, in whom " all the nations of the 
earth should be blessed." It was the operation of this that enabled 
the true Israelite to see the end and use of the "law;" to recognize 
in the type the thing typified; and his dependence on himself, the 
strength of his own natural abilities and works, was done away by 
the acknowledgment that perfection only could be obtained in him 
who was to come. And it is by this seed that we now may be ena- 
bled to receive " the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." 

Now it is plainly manifest that if this " new creature " was to free 
man from the bondage of darkness, he himself must have understand- 
ing to resist every presentation of evil, and virtue and power to purge 
the earth from the fruits of transgression. But these requirements 
were to be found nowhere except in God himself. 

" I, even I, am the Lord ; and besides me there is no Saviour." — 
Isa. xliii. 11. 

Hence, this new creation must be the embodiment of the Spirit, 
and truly the Son or Christ of God. 

" A body hast Thou prepared me." " Lo, I come to do Thy will, 
God."— Jffeb. x. 5-7. 

But the object was not to displace man, but to save or restore him. 
Hence, it was eminently proper that he who was the Saviour should 
not only be made in the likeness of man, but that he should dwell as 
a. man among men. 

To reconcile or restore the world to God by living the life that God 
designed that man should live, he himself must be a man. His life 
could have no effect in obtaining the favor of God for the world, or 
in restoring the impress of God to the world, except he had become 
a part thereof. Not that he should partake of the nature of the 
world, but that he should implant his own nature and bequeath it 
to the world. 



CHRISTIANITY. 45 

To implant his spirit in the world, to firmly establish his king- 
dom therein, he must overcome the world's spirit, the spirit under 
which man (and consequently, the world over which man had been 
given " dominion ") was in bondage. To free man from this, " to ■ 
proclaim liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison to them 
that are bound," was the object of his mission. To do this, he must 
meet the full force of the enmity of darkness. He must encounter 
the full power and influence of unrighteousness. He must boar or 
feel the power of the sins of the whole world, and his love must still 
surmount it all. His patience and "long-suffering" kindness toward 
man was not to be overcome even by the greatest indignities that the 
spirit of the world could heap upon him. And as the spirit of the 
world had power to kill the body, his victory was not complete until 
he had triumphed over it even by submitting to die. 

" He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not his 
mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep be- 
fore her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." — Isa. 1. 7. 

In the death of the body the power of the world was ended, but 
inasmuch as he had power to take it again and still to live, he " tri- 
umphed over death, hell, and the grave." 

He gained the victory, but the price thereof was his blood. 

By his victory, or by his "blood," the price of his victory, he 
had purchased to himself, and consequently to all of the world that 
partook of his nature — belonged to his kingdom — the favor of God. 
By his obedience, he had fulfilled the will of his Father. He had 
thus restored to the world a perfect exemplification of God's design. 

God's love to the world was restored through Jesus Christ, because 
he was the only one that has ever been in the world, since the fall of 
Adam, that could in their own nature perceive or receive it. And he 
he was faithful to that love even unto death. 

Having died, as to the outward, he had yielded or bequeathed his 
place, as to the earth, to man. 

The mission of Christ was to restore to the earth, in his own per- 
son, the perfect government of God, and then to bequeath the fruits 
of this restoration to mankind. This was his testament ; and as the 
apostle says : " "Where a testament is, there must also of necessity 
be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men 
are dead; otherwise, it is of no strength at all, while the testator 
liveth. "—Mb. ix. 16-17. 

" If I go not away, said Jesus, the Comforter will not come." 



46 AN INQUIRY. 

While Christ remained in the flesh, the love of God for the world 
was, so to speak, concentrated on him. But after his removal, as 
to the outward, it was concentrated on those who had become joined 
to his kingdom, with whom his spirit continued to dwell. Mankind 
had now inherited his visible manifestation as well as his spiritual 
power. His outward temple was yet composed of " living members," 
— all those who were " washed," " sanctified," and "justified " in his 
" name ;" a holy body of which he is the head, to direct and gov- 
ern it. 

But let it be remembered that Christ, even to-day, continues to be 
the only one that has access to God : he is the alone "Mediator." 
" I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the 
Father, but by me." — John xiv. 6. Therefore we can know God's 
will, and thus be enabled to fulfill the design of our creation, only 
as we suffer Christ's spirit to rule our hearts, and thus become joined 
in membership with his visible body, — the church militant on earth. 
The benefits which accrue to mankind either by his life or death ex- 
tend not one jot or tittle beyond its borders. 

I have now presented, in brief outline, what, as it appears to me, 
are the reasonable deductions, and in truth the only reasonable de- 
ductions, that can be derived from a fair consideration of the facts. 
If I am correct in this view, and if what I have set forth is a cor- 
rect representation of Christianity, then it is clear that in Christian- 
ity we have the only expression regarding the relations of things as 
designed by God that is worthy of the name of science. 

We have seen that, to admit the truth of the development theory 
is practically to ignore the free agency of man ; yet it must be ad- 
mitted that man is a free agent. 

It has been proved that the natural development theory necessarily 
throws the responsibility of man's present condition upon his Crea- 
tor ; yet it will not be denied that there are many features of his 
condition that God cannot possibly be the author of. Ko one can 
successfully deny that man has become a transgressor ; yet, accord- 
ing to that hypothesis, transgression is an impossibility. 

The theory of natural development is utterly inconsistent with the 
idea of personal responsibility ; yet the acknowledgement of personal 
responsibility is the very basis of human prosperity. 

Evolution is founded on the idea that God never interferes with the 
world ; yet it is clearly to be seen that it is only by His interference 
that man can be saved from the death entailed by transgression. 



CHRISTIANITY. 47 

In the view of the evolutionist the idea of a special creation cannot 
be entertained ; yet we have seen that it is on a special creation that 
the world must depend for its redemption. 

Natural development, in the case of a free agent, involves the com- 
prehension of infinite designs by a finite capacity ; Christianity is 
burdened by no such absurdity. 

Christianity is but the expression of the ideas forced upon us by a 
fair consideration of the evidence. 

The development theory, so far from being forced upon us by the 
evidence, cannot be entertained at all, except in its absence. 

It has been said that the theory of evolution brings to us " nobler 
views of this grand universe of which we form a part," and that " our 
conceptions of the unchangeable purposes, the awful majesty of the 
Supreme Being, become more vivid." l 

Now, suppose for the purposes of our present inquiry we should 
admit, that the only true "conception" of Cod is attainable on the 
supposition of natural development, what would be the result ? 

In the first place, we find ourselves without any definite conception 
at all; for the conception of the evolutionist is based entirely on in- 
formation about natural things. And we all know that, notwithstand- 
ing the wonderful recent discoveries in this direction, (that have suc- 
ceeded each other so rapidly, that they seem to have enveloped a 
large part of mankind in a dense maze of bewilderment,) our knowl- 
edge of nature, taken as a whole, is yet extremely imperfect ; and, 
moreover, it is likely to continue so for some time to come. And this 
the evolutionist himself admits : " "What we understand may be as but 
a few drops to the ocean, in relation to what we do not understand"" 2 

As before observed, our conception of Cod is of no importance 
whatever, except so far as it is connected with our own requirements 
or duties. In other words, the only conception of God that can be of 
any use to us, is a conception of God's will or design concerning our- 
selves : therefore, it is simply a conception of what God designs or 
requires us to be or to do. 

We can have no reasonable expectation of future prosperity, ex- 
cept it is based on the fulfillment of present duty ; and, as to fulfill it, 
we must first know what our duty is, it is plain that it is on our con- 
ception or knowledge of God — knowledge of God's requirements which 



Prof. Draper's Lecture in Popular Science Monthly, Twelfth month, 1877. 
Editorial in Popular Science Monthly, Tenth month, 1877. 
4 



48 AN INQUIRY. 

comprise all our duties — that we must depend for "eternal life :" that 
is, a life in union with God, — the sum total of our aspirations. "This 
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom Thou has sent." — John xvii. 3. Such being the case, 
all must acknowledge that a definite "conception'" is of primary im- 
portance: therefore, if our "conception" is as yet necessarily im- 
perfect, the vital question is, how must we go about the perfecting of it. 

Now, according to Christianity, this whole matter is made plain and 
simple ; for we there find that a perfect conception of God, sufficient 
to enable us perfectly and clearly to perceive His will concerning us, 
is not only attainable, but it is within the reach of every man. It 
is here based on just what a sensible view of the matter would lead 
us to suppose, — a frame of mind that is receptive of God's Spirit, 
"We are here taught, that a true conception of God is the reward or 
result of a purification of the " heart :" — " Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for they shall see God." — Matt. v. 8. 

The responsibility of the whole matter is here brought home to 
each individual : every man may see and commune with God, even 
while he "dwells under his own vine and under his own fig-tree;" 
even though he may never have heard of the "scientific method of 
thought." 

Now, although we cannot find in natural science, any basis what- 
ever for this doctrine of Christianity, yet we will find it to be strictly 
scientific, or in accordance with the knowledge of truth. Natural 
science comprehends only natural things ; but the design or will of 
Deity is not a natural thing, and hence the conception of it does not 
belong to natural science. As has already been observed, although 
we may discover that a certain thing exists, yet we have no natural 
capacity whatever to comprehend its use or place in the design of 
God. 

Certain parts of the works of Deity are manifest to our natural 
senses; here we have natural science; but His design, or the man- 
ner in which He intends that we should use them, to use a scripture 
phrase, " is hid with Christ in God." The perception of this is strict- 
ly confined to the province of immediate Divine revelation ; and, in 
revealing His will, God is impartial : He has regard neither to the 
extent of our investigations nor to the ingenuity of our surmises, 
but only to the integrity or purity of our hearts or consciences, — a 
condition which is open to all classes alike, without the least regard 
to their earthly possessions or acquirements. 



C HE IS TIA XI T Y. 49 

But we are now to look at the matter through the spectacles of the 
evolutionist. He rejects immediate Divine revelation, and depends 
for the perfecting of his conception on the accumulation and observa- 
tion of finite realities : his theory is based entirely on experimental 
investigation, — his resources are limited to natural science. 

On this point his trumpet gives no uncertain sound. 

The editor of the Popular Science Monthly, in referring to Prof. 
Tyndall's Belfast Address, says: — "He" (Prof. Tyndall) "assumed 
the broad advanced ground that the exploration of the universe, so 
far as it is accessible to human faculties, belongs to science ; and that 
every system, doctrine, or belief that has hitherto been put forth re- 
garding the nature, origin, or government of the universe, which lays 
claim to the character of knowledge, must submit its pretensions to 
be passed upon by the tribunal of science. l 

According to this, as we are integral parts of the " universe," we 
must depend for all knowledge or conception of the nature of God's 
government of ourselves, or of His relation to ourselves and of what 
He requires us to be or to do, on the decrees of the " tribunal of science." 
And of course, by " science " it is here intended to refer only to nat- 
ural science. For " he " (" the advanced scientist of the present day") 
"rejects most emphatically the belief in miraculous interferences and 
every conception of whatever kind based on a belief in the so-called 
supernatural. In his view there do not exist, anywhere in the whole 
range of human cognition, real metaphysics, but everywhere only 
natural physics." 2 

Now natural science, or the knowledge of "natural physics," if it 
has no connection with "metaphysics," must be based entirely on the 
observation or experimental investigation of natural things. A con- 
ception that is based on experimental investigation must, primarily, be 
entirely in the hands of those who conduct the experiments ; and as, 
according to our scientist's own statements, the great mass of man- 
kind have neither the training, the leisure, nor the ability for such a 
pursuit, they will be under the necessity of letting the matter rest 
with those who have : hence, the great mass of mankind must depend 
for the perfecting of their conception of God on the judgment of 
Huxley, Darwin, and their co-laborers and successors, — " the tribunal 
of science." 



Fourth month, 1876. 

Editorial in Scientific American, Tenth month 14th, 1876. 



50 AN INQUIRY. 

And after all lias been said and done, this judgment will be noth- 
ing more than the conclusions of a finite mind, based entirely on the 
observation of finite realities; a finite conception of an infinite ob- 
ject, — an effect without any adequate cause. Therefore, when it shall 
be perfected (!), the expectant multitude may find that they have been 
waiting for a conception of their duties to God that is composed, both 
foundation and superstructure, entirely of conjectures. 

So far as our "conception" of the "purposes" "of the Supreme 
Being," or oar relations to Him — the obligations of life — are con- 
cerned, the plan of the evolutionist has in it not a single element of 
certainty : its tendency is not to incite us to the performance of duty, 
but to mystify and unsettle the mind in regard to it. Containing 
nothing that is definite or substantial in regard to the obligations of 
the present hour, on the fulfillment of which alone we can depend for 
our welfare, it feeds the mind only with dreamy visions of the past 
degradation and the future perfection of the race. It informs us that 
we may look forward to " a time when the average man shall as far 
surpass the highest men of to-day in moral and intellectual force, as 
the latter do the lowest savages or the most brutal of our pre-historic 
ancestors." 1 But as to how the attainments of posterity may be 
made available to us, in the performance of our present life-work, it 
is silent. With it the " majesty of the Supreme Being " can be noth- 
ing more than a fantasm, — purely a product of the imagination. 

Christianity first shows us the futility of all finite conceptions of 
God, and then brings His "presence," or His majesty and power, 
home within ourselves. 

The conception of the evolutionist is as a picture, the representa- 
tion of an imaginary scene on canvas, — Christianity an ever present, 
vitalizing power. What idea could a man, who had never tasted of 
meat, form of the properties of beef as food by the contemplation of 
a bullock ? Will the rhapsodies of a poet over a field of growing 
corn give vigor to a starving child? 

Christianity is a substantial reality, — Evolutionism, a thing of the 
imagination, a dream. 

I am well aware that, in the light that I have exposed it, Christi- 
anity seems very different from what we would suppose it to be, judg- 
ing from the practices and dogmas that have obtained in the prevail- 
ing sects of Christendom. But, I believe that the views here pre- 



Editorial in Scientific Am riran, Twelfth month 16th, 1S7G. 



CIIR IS TIA XI T Y. 5 1 

sented are not only the inevitable scientific deductions, but that they 
are the only views that can be supported by the whole context of the 
Bible. And I think it is well worthy of consideration, whether the 
evolutionist is not indebted for his present influence to the incon- 
sistent and incomprehensible manner in which Christianity has been 
and is now being presented to the world' by most of its avowed pro- 
fessors, far more than to any appearance of probability that he has 
been able to attach to his scheme. 

I will illustrate to what I allude by a single instance :— The clergy 
have persistently stigmatized " Darwinism " as a system of infidelity 
and atheism. But, to deny the existence of a God is not a necessity 
of that theory; therefore this charge must receive its significance 
from the fact, that in denying the intervention of God, it consequently 
denies to man the power to receive immediate Divine revelation. 
Without this, as we have seen, man would be left to judge of infinite 
conditions by the exercise of finite faculties, which is impossible. 
But when the clergy, as they generally do, — and not to do so is to 
give up the only possible basis for their system of church government 
or hierarchy, — maintain that immediate Divine revelation ceased with 
the writing of the " New Testament," then, for all intents and pur- 
poses, they deny to man the necessary interference of God just as 
completely as the evolutionist does. For, to comprehend the designs 
of infinite intelligence by the exercise of finite faculties is equally im- 
possible, whether the dependence is on the study of the Bible or on 
the observation of natural phenomena. 

Hence it would appear, that the only real difference in this respect 
between this school of theologians and the evolutionist is, that the 
one asserts that immediate Divine revelation ceased about eighteen 
hundred years ago ; the other that it ceased eighteen billions (more 
or less) years ago. For all practical purposes, so far as we of the 
present day are concerned, the dispute between them is scarcely worth 
a passing thought. For to have the " form of godliness " will avail 
us nothing so long as we " deny the power thereof." 

And if they are essentially the same on this point, it must be mani- 
fest, to any unprejudiced inquirer, that so far as consistency is con- 
cerned, the position of the evolutionist is by far -the strongest of the 
two. For, supposing that our resources are limited to our finite fac- 
ulties, he acts accordingly, and tries to make the best of finite facts ; 
and although his success is nothing to boast of, yet his effort has the 
merit of being strictly in harmony with his profession ; while that of 



52 AN INQUIRY. 

the other antagonizes his own claims, and is in harmony with nothing 
but the darkness of the people and the necessities of priestcraft. 

But although we may have no reason to impugn the honesty of 
our " scientist," or to impute to him any wishful glances at the immu- 
nities and privileges of the clergy, it is nevertheless a fact well worthy 
of our serious consideration, that all schemes to discover the designs 
of God by the power of finite faculties, — no matter how divergent in 
other respects, — are all a unit in at least one point ; which is, the ne- 
cessity of mankind to depend on a few of their number for their infor- 
mation in regard to their highest interests. 

The natural and inevitable tendency of every scheme of this kind, 
whether intended or not, is to keep mankind in bondage to a priest- 
hood. While the ideas of the evolutionist and the popular theologian 
appear to differ so widely as to their origin, yet in their practical 
operation — so far as the pass of mankind is concerned — they neces- 
sarily come to this same point. 

Because a man would not intentionally propagate error, is no suffi- 
cient reason why he should be at once regarded as the embodiment 
of wisdom, and all his notions received as emanations from an oracle. 

The good intention of an actor does not make an action that is 
based on misconception right. If I, being sick, should call in a phy- 
sician who, from a mistaken diagnosis of the case, should administer 
a treatment that would lead to my death, of course if he did it from 
an honest belief that it would restore me to health, he may be held 
somewhat excusable, according as it is said : " He that knew not, and 
did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." 
— Luke xii. 48. But the tendency of the treatment, the effect on 
the patient, is just the same, whether the intention was to kill or to 
cure. And what is more, it would not help the matter if the doctor 
should continue honestly to believe that the treatment was the best 
that could have been devised. 

The evolutionist may not intend to aid in keeping the people in 
bondage to a priesthood, but that does not alter the fact, that any 
system, that ascribes to a certain class of men peculiar capacities or 
facilities for the discernment of the truth, does, so far as that system 
extends its influence, effectually lead the people to depend on that 
class for their knowledge of the truth; and such a dependence, 
whether it be upon the hierarchy of Borne, or the " tribunal of .sci- 
ence," is no other than the substance of priestcraft. 

Whether we call him "priest" or "professor" is of little account, 



CHE IS TIA NIT Y. 53 

so long as our attention is drawn away from our immediate individual 
responsibility to God. 

The natural tendency among mankind is to foster a priesthood, to 
escape the feeling of personal responsibility, whereas the gospel of 
Christ brings this directly home to every individual. No man 
need go to his brother, saying : Dost thou "know the Lord," or canst 
thou give me information about Him ? " for all shall know Him," or 
have the capacity within themselves to know Him, " from the least 
unto the greatest." 

The capacity to know the will of God, to fulfill the design of our 
creation, is as universally dispensed as the air we breathe. 

" Ye need not that any man teach you ; but as the same anointing 
teacheth you." 

The world might safely be challenged to produce a single individual 
who has not, at some period of his life, felt the influence of this " an- 
ointing." The evidence of its existence is not only positive, but it is 
universal, — it is in the possession of every man. 

'•'The grace of God," or seed of Christ's government, "which 
brings salvation, hath appeared unto all men." There is no exception, 
Jew and Gentile, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, bond and 
free, cultivated and barbarian, are all included ; they all have felt its 
power to influence their hearts. Perhaps they knew not its name 
and were ignorant from whence it came ; but it was its influence, never- 
theless, that warmed their hearts to deeds of love, — it was its warning 
voice that restrained them from entering the paths of vice. For, as 
the apostle declared, "when the Gentiles, which have not the law, 
do by nature the things contained in the law, these not having the 
law, are a law unto themselves." — Horn. ii. 14. 

This is as though he had said, When the Gentiles who are ignorant 
of the written law, permit this " Grace of God " to influence their 
minds, it will so change and meliorate their nature, that they will be 
led to " do by nature " the thing contained in the written exposition 
■of the law of righteousness; and thus is shown "the work of the 
law written in their hearts." — Horn. ii. 15. 

It is to this " law " or " light " in the heart that mankind is in- 
debted for all that is " lovely " and of " good report." 

This was the " pearl of great price " that was found by the " mer- 
chant " of old, who, like a wise man, sold all that he had, that he 
might possess it. It was this that was to be called " Emanuel, which, 
being interpreted, is God with us." 



54 AN INQUIRY. 

This is the " child born," the " son given, . . . and the government 
shall rest upon His shoulder ; and His name shall be called Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall 
be no end." And to him, by right, belongs the ruling of the na- 
tions. 



CHAPTER III. 

CIVILIZATION. 



"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it : except the Lord keep the city, 
the watchman waketh but in vain." — Psa. cxxvii. i. 



IT appears that the term "civilization" is derived from the Latin, 
civis, a citizen. In Chambers' Encyclopaedia it is stated, that 
" the original derivation of the word civilization points to that polish 
of manners that distinguish the inhabitants of cities (Latin, cives) 
from the rustic population ; but the use of the word has greatly out- 
grown this limitation." "Guizot," continues the same authority, 
" has given a definition which has become generally known, to the 
effect that we are to include in civilization the improvement of man 
both socially and in his individual capacity. But the chief difficulty 
lies in settling what is improvement." 

It thus seems that this word, which was originally limited to a sig- 
nification of the improvement which the polished manner, acquired by 
those who live in constant intercourse with their fellows, was supposed 
to possess over the more angular deportment of the rural population, 
has now, after undergoing various modifications, become the term by 
which we express the aggregate improvement either of the whole or 
of a specified section of the human race. 

I believe the word is never used, certainly never correctly used, ex- 
cept in connection with the idea of human improvement. That some 
should regard certain social conditions as the proper adjuncts of civil- 
ization, which to others appear to be only the relics of barbarism, only 
shows that people are divided in regard to what constitutes improve- 
ment. Hence; to consider the relation which any particular thing (the 
evolution theory, Christianity, or anything else) bears to civilization, 
is but to consider the relation which it bears to the improvement of 
mankind. 



56 AN INQUIRY. 

Civilization may be defined as the state of being civilized or in- 
structed in regard to the means provided for the improvement of man- 
kind. Therefore, in considering the matter now proposed for ex- 
amination, we are brought directly to the question : "What are the 
means provided ? or, on what must we depend for our improvement 
or civilization ? 

If the conclusions of the preceding chapters are true, we have 
plainly before us the fact, that man has no inherent power to improve 
himself. But it is not to be denied that man has experienced and 
may still experience an improvement of his condition ; and it is an 
incontrovertible principle of science, that there can be no effect with- 
out an adequate cause. Therefore, this improvement of mankind 
must have a cause ; and if that cause is not to be found in our natural 
capacities and surroundings, it must be sought for beyond that which 
is natural. 

As we have already seen, it is found in the fact that there has been 
established in the earth a supernatural kingdom of righteousness, of 
which Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is Head and Lord ; and 
that the "gift" of a germ or " seed " of this kingdom brings imme- 
diately home to every individual the possibility of coming under its 
government. 

We have also seen that the efforts of this seed to expand and grow, 
or its inherent tendency to enlighten the mind, makes man conscious 
of its "presence." A man can know nothing of anything except as 
he becomes, or is made, conscious of it : hence, if Christ is to rule or 
direct the actions of men and, at the same time, leave to them the 
freedom of choice, the conscience must be the seat of his govern- 
ment. By right it is his throne ; but we being free agents in the 
matter, the extent of his influence must depend on our reception or 
treatment of the consciousness produced by this, his light, or the 
seed of his kingdom. 

Therefore, if we are to be benefited or civilized by the presence of 
the "light," we must give our allegiance to it, believe in it, or ac- 
knowledge that it has a right to claim our attention, — that the con- 
sciousness produced thereby must be observed and obeyed ; and we 
are thus brought face to face with the fact, that the civilization or 
improved condition of the human race must rest on the acknowledg- 
ment of the rights of conscience, — or, in other words, on the feeling 
that each individual is immediately responsible to God. In thus ac- 
knowledging God to be the only One that can rightly instruct the con- 



CIVILIZATION. 57 

science, we acknowledge Him to be the sovereign Lord thereof : or, 
that no human power has any right to bind the conscience, or to come 
between God and the conscience of any man whatsoever. 

It thus appears that the civilization of the nineteenth century is 
greater than that of those that have preceeded just to the degree that 
people of to-day more universally permit the Spirit of Christ to 
govern them; just to the degree that their attention is directed to 
the consciousness produced by its presence, or that the " eye " of the 
mind is kept "single to the light." And this cannot be accomplished 
unless — or rather, it is accomplished just to the degree that — the at- 
tention is drawn away from the commandments and institutions of 
men, or from educational bias or opinions. To centre the "eye " on a 
" single " object is to exclude all other objects from the field of vision. 
The Spirit of Christ must be the basis of all true human advance- 
ment, and "other foundation can no man lay." * 

For truth is a unit, — it comprehends the relation of all the facts- 
pertaining to the case, — and as the civilization or improvement of 
mankind is but the perception, realization, or consciousness of the 
truth, it must have the truth, or a unit, for its basis. And, as we 
have already seen, in respect to the perception of the truth there is 
no unit to be found but the wisdom of God. And as that wisdom is 
revealed, or made manifest to our understanding only by the light of 
Christ shining upon our conscience, or in other words, only as we are 
made conscious of it by the light of Christ, of course this light of 
Christ is our only basis for unity, or for a knowledge of the truth. 

If, in respect to the perception of the truth, there is no unit to be 
found but the intelligence of God, of course the immediate revelation 
of that intelligence must be the only adequate cause for man's per- 
ception of the truth. 

In conducting the affairs of the world we find, that to successfully 
promote any design, the whole matter must be under the control of 
a single competent head or leader, — an army must have but one com- 
manding general. To erect a building, all the workmen must be un- 
der the guidance of a single mind. In like manner the design of God 
can be accomplished only under the direction of one mind, and that 
mind must be a unit both in wisdom and power. It must embrace 
or perceive the whole design of the Creator : hence, can be nothing 
short of the Creator himself. 

1 See Appendix, Note 1. 



58 AN INQUIRY. 

When we undertake to use natural science, — what we may per- 
ceive by our natural faculties, as a basis for our efforts to discover 
the truth, — each one has only the workings of his own mind for a 
basis ; and with different minds, as it is in respect to different faces, 
no two are exactly alike. And even if our minds were exactly alike, 
their perceptions would still fail to be a unit, because each one views 
the object from a different standpoint. 

We perceive that certain things exist, different species of animals 
and trees for instance ; but to perceive the real significance of these 
existences, to make a proper use of what we have thus perceived, is 
impossible, unless we go further and perceive the relation in which 
these things stand to the design of creation ; and for this, as we have 
just seen, we must refer to the light of Christ shining upon our con- 
science, — the immediate revelation of the will of God. 

As has already been repeated, an infinite design can be compre- 
hended only by Infinite Intelligence, and this being the case, it is seen 
at once that the knowledge gained through our natural faculties can 
serve us no good purpose at all unless we use it under the immediate 
direction of Infinite Intelligence. Of course we may gratify our car- 
nal appetites and our existence may be continued, but our existence 
can serve us no good purpose unless we live in the fulfillment of the 
Creator's design ; and to fulfill our Creator's design we must first be- 
come conscious of it, or receive the impress of it upon our conscience. 
And as our individual relation to that design, our life-work or duties, 
is known only to the creator or orignator of it, any impress thereof 
upon our consciences must be the immediate act of the Creator, — im- 
mediate Divine revelation. To be made conscious of anything is to 
have that thing revealed to us ; and to have anything revealed to us 
is simply to be made conscious of it. 

We are made conscious of the existence of the various objects of 
creation by which we are surrounded by our natural perceptive facul- 
ties. But the point to which I am now endeavoring to call particular 
attention is, that our natural faculties cannot make us conscious of 
the Creator's design, and consequently not of the use or place of any- 
thing in that design ; because the power of these does not extend to 
the perception of it; they being finite and it infinite, — they do not 
furnish a sufficient cause for any such effect : hence, while our re- 
sources are limited to our natural faculties, we can have no conscious- 
ness of the design of God, or of our life-work in the fulfillment of 
that design, except it be an imaginary one, a fig-leaf or fiction. 



CIVILIZATION. 59 

In any effort to comprehend the Will of God, without the active 
presence of that will, or a consciousness produced immediately there- 
by, we are left with nothing to which we can compare it, or by which 
we can form a judgment in regard to it, or obtain a consciousness of 
it, except our own will and surroundings ; therefore, under these 
circumstances, our consciousness in regard to the matter can be noth- 
ing more than the impress of our natural desires and environment. 
We have before us nothing but the inferences of a finite mind based 
upon finite observation or experience. We see the creation, not in 
its true relations, as it really is, but as we may imagine that it ought 
to be, as we would like it to be, or as we suppose it probably would 
be, if we had the management of it. 

In our natural condition, or while our attention is attracted en- 
tirely to our natural propensities and cravings, the gratification of 
these forms our only conscious or perceptible means of enjoyment; 
and such is our condition when the first small appearances of the 
light of Christ makes us conscious of the presence of our Creator 
and of His right to claim our allegiance. Hence, when we recognize 
this, we are seized with a sense of fear ; we become afraid least, in 
giving our allegiance to Him, we will be deprived of what we have 
come to regard as essential to our enjoyment. And although we may 
go so far as to acknowledge the necessity of an effort to conform to 
the will of our Creator, yet we are quite willing to be persuaded, or 
to persuade ourselves, that the consciousness which is the impress of 
our natural cravings and surroundings is to be taken into consider- 
ation in the formation of our consciousness of duty. To an unpreju- 
diced mind, it must be perfectly plain that such a consciousness, so 
far as the Will of God is concerned, can be nothing more than a fiction 
or fig-leaf covering. We perceive the "light," but reserve to our- 
selves the judgment-seat; and our judgment, being partial, (at best 
based on the recognition of but a very small part of the facts per- 
taining to the case,) screens us from a full recognition of its require- 
ments. 

And even when we have become sincerely desirous to know and to 
perform all that the truth requires, we generally find that our educa- 
tion, or the inferences that we have drawn from our experience, comes 
in as an element to vitiate our consciousness of the matter. If we 
have been led by our education, or by a review of our experience, to 
hold a certain opinion in regard to any object, that opinion must be 
the basis of our consciousness of that object. Things are to us ac- 



60 AX INQUIRY. 

cording to our belief: that is, they are impressed on our conscience 
just in the shape that we have been led to believe that they exist. 
If a person sincerely believes that to repeat " Ave Maria " a certain 
number of times; or to bow to the image of the Virgin, is an essential 
act of worship, the neglect of it is impressed on his conscience as a 
neglect of duty; and under the circumstances it would, in a certain 
sense, really be a neglect of duty ; but it would be so not because 
such a performance is a requirement of the truth, but because so long 
as he honestly believes it to be so, to perform it is the best he can do. 
The nearest any one can come to the truth is to perform what he hon- 
estly believes to be required by the truth ; this is his only means of 
showing his allegiance to it; nevertheless, it becomes necessary for 
him to perform it, not because his mind is enlightened, but because 
•of its being obscured by darkness. The act is based, not on a clear 
discernment of the truth, but on a misconception of it. 

So long as we hold a false opinion, our consciousness of the matter 
must be a false one ; and as a finite education or experience can form 
no basis for a correct opinion in regard to our religious duties, (and 
all duties are religious obligations,) therefore, just so far as our pre- 
conceived opinions are allowed to enter into the consideration of the 
case, just to that extent is our consciousness of the matter a false one. 
Hence, our conscience or consciousness represents the real require- 
ments of the truth only to the degree that it is free from these fig- 
ments or fruits of the imagination. 

Saul of Tarsus, in endeavoring to perform his duty, was led by his 
conscience to persecute the Christians. He says : " I verily thought 
with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name 
of Jesus of Nazareth," (Acts xxvi. 9) ; but when he had experienced 
a purification of his conscience, when he had been born again, when 
it had become free from the influence of educational bias and the de- 
ceptions of self-aggrandizement and self-gratification, he was led by it 
to become a most eminent promoter of civilization, an apostle of the 
gospel of Christ. 

Our ability to perceive or become conscious of the will of our Crea- 
tor, — to become a unit in the fulfillment thereof, — depends, then, on 
the integrity or purity of our "hearts" or consciences; and, to be 
pure, they must be entirely under the influence of Christ's spirit. 

If an architect should employ a number of men to erect a build- 
ing which he has designed, and each of these men, instead of waiting 
for the directions of the architect, should proceed to work on a plan 



CIVILIZATION. 61 

of his own, wherein his sole guide is what he conceives to be the 
adaptations of the undressed timber and stone which he happens to 
find about the place, of course the result can be nothing more than a 
confused pile of raw material ; which, so far as the design of the ar- 
chitect is concerned, is nought. In fact, being an entirely useless 
misappropriation and waste of both time and material, it is worse 
than nought. It would, however, furnish a very complete illustra- 
tion of the efforts of men to fulfill the design of God without the im- 
mediate illumination of His spirit, 

"Without the immediate direction of Infinite Intelligence, the accu- 
mulation of knowledge concerning finite things, instead of producing 
a unity, has the very opposite effect, the production of diversity : in- 
stead of leading to a true conception of God's design, it only mysti- 
fies the world with a vast multitude of false ones. And this is just 
the result that sound reason would lead us to expect. For when we 
attempt to use these facts relating to finite things as a basis for infer- 
ences concerning the design of God, the truth, if we examine closely, 
we will find that our inferences are not based on the facts so much as 
on the peculiar and necessarily partial light in which we happen to 
view them ; and here we have the basis, not of unity, but of diversity. 

All the facts now known, or that ever will be known, to natural 
science, cannot afford the least foundation for a knowledge of the 
truth or of the will of God ; but they do afford a basis for an end- 
less variety of speculations. They afford no basis for unity, but they 
do afford a basis for diversity. 

If we could pick out a number of our most eminent scientists, di- 
vest their minds of all preconceived opinions, and then induce them 
(each being entirely independent of the other) to devote a certain 
time to the observation of a given object, with a view to determine 
its use and place in God's design, we might safely predict that the 
conclusions of no two of them would be alike. And we might fur- 
ther safely predict that their conclusions would approach a unity 
about in proportion to the narrowness of their vision, — not in pro- 
portion to their approach to the basis of truth, by taking into consid- 
eration the bearings of. a greater array of facts, but in proportion to 
the degree that they kept their attention strictly confined to that one 
object alone. When they admit to their consideration the bearings 
of other objects, of course, as each one views them from a different 
standpoint, by so doing, they open the way for a greater variety of 
view, or a greater variety of inferences. 



62 AN INQUIRY. 

A greater variety of ideas may be formed by the consideration of 
a large number of facts, than by the consideration of a few, just as a 
large number of figures admit of a greater number of combinations 
than a few. 

This is not only true in theory, but it is supported by reality ; for 
the facts will fully warrant the assertion, that the labors of men in 
this direction have been productive, not of a united sentiment, but of 
a vast diversity of ideas respecting the design of creation. 

As an illustration of this, we have only to examine the history i if 
the various professions of religion : for it must be remembered that 
every conception concerning the design of God is properly to be con- 
sidered a religious belief. All such come within the scope of ecclesi- 
astical history. 

Now, we already have plainly before us the fact that there can be 
but one true system of religion. If truth is a unit, it follows, as a 
matter of course, that the profession of it must also be a unit. It is 
nothing short of absurdity to suppose that several antagonistic ideas 
can each be a true representation of the same fact. Therefore, we 
are forced to conclude, that the diverse professions of religion must 
owe their origin, not to the truth, but to some of those elements 
which come in to vitiate our consciousness of the truth : in other 
words, they can be based on nothing more than a finite conception of 
the truth ; a conception of God formulated by our consciousness of 
finite realities. 

We have found that every conception of this kind, based on the 
observation of finite realities is not only a fictitious or false religious 
belief, but that its inevitable tendency is to lead mankind to depend 
on a few of their number for their ideas, — or in other words, to sup- 
port a priesthood or hierarchy. This being the case, it is but proper 
to consider every finite conception of God's design, as but a part and 
parcel of a great finite. system of religion, — a general hierarchy ; and, 
as the tendency of every part of it is to keep the attention of man- 
kind turned to outside things, and away from the indwelling light of 
their Saviour, it may, as thus lumped together, with propriety be 
called the religion of Antichrist. 

Now, seeing that this general hierarchal system is based on the con- 
sciousness of finite realities, if what has been said on this point is true, 
we are bound to suppose that a vastly increased perception of finite 
realities would cause it to become divided and subdivided ; and this 
we find to be the actual state of the case. 



CIVILIZATION. 63 

The ecclesiastical system that arose with the corruptions that fol- 
lowed the early apostasy from the principles enunciated by Christ and 
his immediate followers, took its form from its then surroundings. 
It was a finite conception of God adapted to the then prevailing 
theories respecting finite things. 

At this period of the earth's history, the ideas of men were based 
on, comparatively, a very limited knowledge of finite realities; hence 
they were so little diversified, that they could generally unite in ac- 
cepting a single or central finite conception. It was thus possible 
for a corrupt and scheming priesthood to call numerous nations, 
for all practical purposes, almost unitedly to its support. To-day 
such a thing is impossible, — not because men are more united in their 
theories about the relations of things, but because they are more 
disunited. The presentation of an increased array of realities, and 
what are accepted as realities, has diversified their ideas ; and the 
hierarchy — or rather this part of the hierarchy which claims to repre- 
sent Christianity, which in that day was united and powerful — is now 
split into divers factions, no one of which is strong enough to exert 
an overwhelming influence. 

While mankind were generally united in the support of a single or 
centralized finite conception, it was possible for those, who were par- 
ticularly interested in maintaining that conception, more effectually 
to oppose and keep in obscurity any effort that might be made to 
direct the attention of the people to the light of Christ within them- 
selves. Now, if we look at the history of those parts of the world 
which have made profession of Christianity from that time to the pre- 
sent, it will be observed that there are three things, the progress of 
which have been simultaneous: — 1st, The progress of civilization : a 
wider recognition, or consciousness of personal responsibility to God, 
and its inevitable consequence, a more extended and clearer conscious- 
ness of God's will or design. 1 2d, The progress of natural science, or 

1 Here we have a realization of that prophetic declaration concerning Christ, 
that " of the increase of his government there shall be no end." And when 
we consider that every sincere desire to do right, no matter what the circum- 
stances or surroundings may be, always gives a place or foothold to the Spirit 
of Christ, and that his government always produces peace and true satisfac- 
tion, while that of Antichrist produces nought but unrest and misery; the one 
ever cementing and uniting into the fellowship of the One body, while the 
other only scatters and divides, it appears perfectly reasonable that it should 
be so. If it were not so, then Christ's mission to restore the world to God 
would be a failure. 



64 AN INQUIRY. 

a perception of the arrangement of God's outward creation. 3d, The 
division and subdivision of the priesthood or hierarchy into factions 
and sects. 

Now, when we remember that the earth is to receive the impress 
of God's design only through man, it at once appears perfectly reason- 
able, — not that the first is the consequence of the second ; but that 
the second should be an inevitable consequence of the -first, — that as 
mankind becomes prepared to fulfill the design of God, there is placed 
within their reach, or they are enabled to acquire, such information 
concerning natural things as may be useful to them in the accomplish- 
ment of it. 1 And when we again remember that while this informa- 
tion may be useful in the accomplishment of His design (only) im- 
mediately under the direction of His spirit, it also must be taken into 
consideration in any effort to comprehend or explain His design with- 
out the direction of His Spirit ; and as it is the latter effort that forms 
the basis of the hierarchy, we see at once that the third is the inevit- 
able consequence of the second ; because, as we have just seen, when 
the conception of God is based on natural things, an increased knowl- 
edge of natural things is productive of diverse conceptions. 2 



1 In a general sense, physical science may be considered as strictly cumulat- 
ive, each new discovery being — at least to all appearance — derived from and, 
in a manner, resting upon what has preceded ; but we are in reality indebted 
either directly or indirectly to Divine enlightenment for it all. It is a con- 
dition of civilization alone that gives to a discovery in science any real value 
or usefulness. For all intents and purposes, the former is the parent of the 
latter. If we could select a community that has arrived at the highest stage 
of improvement yet known to man, and totally deprive it of conscientiousness 
or the feeling of responsibility to God, although we should leave it in posses- 
sion of all the knowledge, all the discoveries and inventions of the present 
age, it would, nevertheless, sink at once to a state of barbarism, anarchy, and 
confusion. Not only would any further accumulation of science become im- 
possible, but it would immediately be deprived of the power to reap advan- 
tage from the store on hand. 

It is to its righteous members alone that a community is indebted for its 
preservation. It was because ten righteous men were not to be found within 
her borders, that Sodom was overwhelmed with destruction. 

2 From this point of view, we may see the truth of the declaration of Christ : 
" Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, 
but a sword," (Matt. x. 34) ; although his doctrine brought peace to all those 
who were thereby led to put their "faith" entirely on him. "These things," 
says he, " I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace," {John xvi. 
33) ; yet on those who continue to depend on earthly things, or on their earth- 
ly powers of perception, the effect of any general diffusion of Divine light is 
but to produce diverse views, or to set men at " variance" one with another. 



CIVILIZATION. 65 

Thus we see that progress in natural science is a natural and in- 
evitable consequence of civilization or Divine enlightenment, and that 
it is also a powerful agent in the destruction of the arch -enemy of 
civilization, the hierarchy. We find that the "earth" (or a knowl- 
edge of the earth) has ever "helped the woman that brought forth 
the man child." 

But, if men are to give, their undivided attention to the true con- 
ception, they must first cease to have their minds distracted by false 
ones: hence science can be considered an adjunct of civilization only 
so far as it remains connected with its original foundation, immediate 
Divine revelation. When it is grafted upon any other stock, it be- 
comes nought but an obstruction to civilization, a source of diversity 
and strife. A false conception of God ever has been, and from the 
nature of things ever must be, the greatest obstruction to the pro- 
gress of human improvement, and all conceptions based upon natural 
science are of necessity false ones ; therefore, all the efforts of the 
natural scientist, while working as such, to discover the basis of civil- 
ization, or to fulfill the design of creation, are strictly confined within 
the borders of the enemy's camp. The production of discord in that 
camp is an incident, not the intention of his labors. 1 

The Church of Christ is founded upon a " rock " or unit, — that of Antichrist is 
as a house divided against itself, with no foundation but " sand." 

Truly the cherubims and the flaming sword have been and are still perform- 
ing the work assigned them effectually and well. 

1 This phase of the subject is well illustrated by those theories in regard to 
the age of the world and the period of creation, based on geological investiga- 
tion, which, when introduced a few years ago, threw the theologians into such 
a state of agitation. These views brought no settlement of any question, they 
only introduced fresh food for debate and contention. The only important 
question at issue is, not how long the earth was being formed before the crea- 
tion of man, but in regard to the requirements and responsibilities of man 
after he was created ; the relations which he bears to the earth and the Crea- 
tor. To suppose that the answer to this should be found concealed in the 
lifeless crust of the earth is certainly sufficiently absurd. 

The "geologists," in introducing another conception quite different in many 
points from the one to which the theologians were struggling to confine the 
attention of the people, and, to say the least, equal to it in " thinkableness" 
merely opened a new field for speculation ; and by thus vastly increasing the 
range over which the human imagination may roam and scatter, it became 
vastly more difficult to concentrate the people in supporting any one particu- 
lar finite conception. Thus we find that the " geologists" have done much to 
weaken the influence of pre-existing finite conceptions, but that they have 
done nothing to settle any important point, — except it be the futility of all 
finite conceptions. With all their boastfulness, they have not been able to 
throw any light upon a single question of vital interest. 



66 AN INQUIRY. 

The hierarchy being founded on finite conceptions, — that is, on finite 
views of the arrangement or relations of things, — of course it would 
take its form from the particular view or views that happened, from 
whatever cause, to prevail at the particular time and place. And hav- 
ing once assumed its position, it is easily seen that those who, either 
from an honest misconception of the matter, or from more sordid 
motives, were particularly interested in its support, would naturally 
endeavor to maintain it, not only against the introduction of any con- 
trary view, but against any newly discovered facts antagonistic to 
the present conception. This has given rise to what is now being 
largely spoken of as the " conflict between religion and science ;" but 
between true religion and true science there can be no conflict, because 
all true knowledge is a unit, and moreover science — true science — is 
but the offspring of religion. The effect of true religion has ever 
been to displace error by enabling people to perceive the will of God; 
just as the morning sun overcomes the vague and undefined visions 
of the night, by enabling us to see things in the bright effulgence of 
the day. All the " warfare " and " conflict " about which so much is 
now being said, is simply the struggles for self-preservation of a mon- 
ster with a thousand heads, each of which is in antagonism with all 
the rest ; which are a unit only in drawing the attention of mankind 
away from the truth. 

It seems to me, that no candid reader of the " New Testament " 
can for a moment doubt that the teachings of Christ, while in that 
prepared body, were intended to unite his followers in faithful obe- 
dience to his own Divine Spirit, and to that alone. He ever referred 
them to the "light" within themselves : " In him was life; and the 
life was the light of men." Instead of inciting them to put their 
"faith" or dependence on the strength of their perceptive and ra- 
tional faculties, he tells them plainly that the truth — or what is the 
same tiling, the "kingdom of God" — cannot be obtained by "obser- 
vation:" " For, behold," says he, "the kingdom of God is within 
you." — Luke xvii. 20-21. And in taking his leave of them, as to 
his outward appearance in that prepared body, he commands them, 
not that they must depend on their industry in the accumulation of 
knowledge of the earth, but simply to " tarry at Jerusalem until en- 
dued with power from on high." 

The whole tendency of his doctrine is to impress on his hearers 
the fact, that the renovation of the heart is the " one thing needful," 
the only basis for their improvement. The sum and substance of his 



CIVILIZATION. 67 

teachings is contained in the one declaration and promise : " Seek ye 
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you." 

And, in like manner, the labors of the apostles were to beget in each 
individual a sense of their immediate responsibility to and depend- 
ence upon their Creator as manifested within themselves : to this alone 
were they to look for their unity, welfare, or knowledge of their duty. 
To have Christ reign "within" was the "hope of glory." — Cot. i. 27. 
Faith in this indwelling " word " was the basis of all truth, and Christ 
was the author and finisher of their "faith." — Heb. xii. 2. 

Now, can any one, after taking a candid and unprejudiced review 
of his own experience and the history of the world, rationally sup- 
pose that these doctrines are antagonistic to the truth, — that they 
are unsupported by the facts ? 

Both history and experience afford us indubitable evidence that 
anything belonging to the earth, whether it be a knowledge of the 
natural sciences, culture of the intellect, or material property of any 
kind, may be accumulated to the greatest extent, and the possessor, 
nevertheless, still be without any of the essential elements of real 
prosperity, improvement, or civilization; and such being the case, it 
is clear that civilization does not rest on these things. 

But when we can find no marked improvement except in connec- 
tion with the profession of Christianity, or except in those divisions 
of the race that make profession of Christianity ; that this advance- 
ment or civilization is apparent just in the degree that the Christian 
principle is permitted to mould the actions of the people, (which is 
but another way of saying, just to the degree that the rights of con- 
science are acknowledged,) certainly we have good reason to suppose 
that it is to the essential principles of Christianity that we are in- 
debted for it all. 

The history of the Christian era plainly demonstrates that the 
early decline of the church was simultaneous with a decline of this 
apostolic " faith." And to suppose that the gradual revival of its 
prosperity is dependent on something besides this " faith," or on 
human industry in the accumulation of knowledge concerning the 
earth or the finite materials by which we are surrounded, is utterly 
unreasonable. 

The natural propensities of the early Christians were in nowise 
different from those of other members of the human family. In 
yielding to their natural inclination to escape personal responsibility, 



68 AN INQUIRY. 

they were ever inclined to place the responsibility on something out- 
side of themselves. In this way, because they did not keep their "eye " 
single to the light, their attention was gradually withdrawn from the 
simple government of the Indwelling Spirit, and their dependence thus 
came to be placed on the paraphernalia of a human organization. 
And thus the government, instead of being directed by Christ, whose 
will is known only as it is immediately manifested to the conscience 
of each individual, is placed entirely in the hands of those who form 
and control the organization, — that is to say, a priesthood. 

If it is true that the revival of the government of Christ has been 
proportionate to the decline of the power of the priesthood, — and this 
cannot be denied, — we may well suppose that this early declension of 
his government was in like manner proportionate to the increase of 
the power of the priesthood ; and that in the culmination of the power 
of the latter, we would find the culmination of darkness or of the 
obscurity of the true Christian faith. Again, when we call to remem- 
brance the fact, that the stability of any organization depends on the 
extent that all its members yield obedience to a central power or single 
head, we can but suppose that the power of the priesthood or hierar- 
chy, that arose on the corruption of Christianity, would find its cul- 
mination in the acknowledgment of a single person as its head. The 
influence of the true Christian church depends on the acknowledg- 
ment of the One indwelling Spirit of Christ, and likewise the influ- 
ence of the Antichristian church, or any particular part thereof, must 
depend on the government of a single finite or human head, — a pope, 
a patriarch, a brahmin, or a bishop. How far these suppositions 
correspond with the facts, I leave the reader to inquire. 

Recurring to the fact, that all finite conceptions of God are properly 
to be included in a general ecclesiastical system or hierarchy, it must 
be. observed, that as different sections of the human race present 
various degrees of enlightenment, and as a consequence must differ 
vastly in their perception or knowledge of the relations and capacity 
of the various objects of creation, it inevitably follows that any 
general conception or system of religion of this kind will not only be 
divided into factions and sects, but that each of these must, somewhat 
after the manner of the chameleon, take its color and form from its 
immediate surroundings : and this is the condition in which we find 
it. Again, if it is true as I have represented, that Cbristianit} r — the 
idea or consciousness of the immediate teaching of Christ's spirit, — 
furnishes the only basis of human unity, improvement, or civilization. 



CIVILIZATION. 69 

of course we may expect to find the greatest perception of the reali- 
ties of creation, and consequently the greatest division and sub-divis- 
ion of this hierarchal system in those parts of the earth where the 
people are most influenced by the indwelling light of Christ ; that is 
to say, where the doctrines of Christianity are most generally recog- 
nized, the hierarchal system will have the most difficulty in maintain- 
ing its position : and this we also find to be the actual state of the 
case. Among certain unenlightened people, (unenlightened, because 
with them the rights of conscience receive no prominent or general 
recognition, and in consequence their attention is more easily diverted 
from the light of truth shining thereupon,) the crude and extravagant 
conceptions of Mahomet or of the Veda are found sufficient to satisfy 
or perhaps more correctly, to obscure, the sense of religious duty; 
but where the influence of civilization or Divine illumination is felt 
the most, and the realities of Christianity have obtained a general 
recognition and permanent hold upon the people, leading them more 
and more to feel their individuality, or that each one must look only 
to his own conscience for the light of the knowledge of God, the 
hierarchy is forced to twist and contort itself into a thousand different 
shapes, each, as a matter of course, claiming to be a representation 
of Christianity. But a still further degree of enlightenment is fast 
leading many of the people to doubt the truth of these representa- 
tions. Hence, this part of the hierarchy, or rather those who are 
depending on it, now find that, if they are to retain the support of 
this class, they must make a radical change. For in adapting their 
system to the ever-advancing tide of civilization, the process of trim- 
ming and refining upon the ancient conceptions has been carried about 
to its utmost limit ; and the creeds and dogmas that have so long 
formed their superstructure, are now stretched to such a thinness, or 
diluted until they are so transparent, that it takes but a casual ob- 
servation to see through them, and to recognize the "sandy" and 
unstable character of the elements composing their foundation. And 
in endeavoring to discover a remedy, or to reconstruct it in corres- 
pondence with the present conditions, it is found that the necessities 
of the case require all the vast and varied ingenuity of the evolu- 
tionist. 

That is to say, just so soon as any people are so far enlightened as 
to see the absurdity of claiming an infinite character for a finite con- 
ception, or, what is the same thing, of depending for a knowledge of 
their duties in life on a finite conception of a mediate or past Divine 



70 AN INQUIRY. 

revelation, they have left to them but two alternatives, — either a de- 
pendence on immediate Divine revelation, or on the strength of their 
intellectual powers. To give a full acknowledgment to the first, is 
effectually to remove the whole foundation of priestcraft : hence the 
condition of things being as just referred to, the power of the hierar- 
chy can be maintained only so far as the people are induced to place 
their dependence on the latter ; and the priesthood being thus forced 
to acknowledge openly and above-board their dependence on the 
power of the human intellect, they find in the plans of the "advanced 
scientist " the only system that is in the least degree consistent with 
such a profession. For it is palpably true, as I have stated elsewhere, 
that supposing our resources to be limited to our finite faculties, the 
theologian is left without a particle of ground to stand upon ; and the 
whole matter must, naturally and inevitably, be placed in the hands 
of the natural scientist. And I suppose it is in consequence of an 
instinctive appreciation of this fact, that we see the vanguard of the 
so-called Christian hierarchy making desperate efforts to re-adjust 
itself under the direction of the " advanced thought of the present 
day." 1 

But the unity or strength to be derived thereby is in appearance 
only ; in reality, it is productive of nothing but diversity or weakness, 
— it rests on the same old " sandy " foundation. 

Provided that they are both strictly finite, the conception of the 
most ingenious "scientist " differs nothing in its quality from the con- 
ception of the most superstitious boor, — the difference is only in 
breadth or quantity. We are not now talking about the motive of 
the conceiver, but of the character of all conceptions that are strictly 
finite. If they correspond in this respect, then, so far as a represen- 
tation of the design of creation or the truth is concerned, the con- 
ception of our modern advanced scientist can differ nothing from that 
conception which laid the foundation of the Inquisition; they onlv 
differ in appearance or plausibility, — the former being with great in- 
genuity adapted to our present very extensive knowledge of finite 



1 It is a fact not difficult to discover, that a large part of the Protestant hier- 
archy are turning their attention, with increasing interest, to an "adaptation to 
Darwinism" as a probable solution of their difficulties; while the other ex- 
treme, despairing of any other source of strength, are endeavoring to make 
good their retreat to the Papacy. And yet another division, perhaps by far 
the largest of the three, is engage 1 in an effort to reproduce the essential ele- 
ments of Popery by an "alliance" between all the so-called "evangelical" 
Protestant sects. 



CIVILIZATION. 71 

realities. In this case the fiction is so nicely mixed up with the real, 
that to a superficial or partial view it seems to be of the same sub- 
stance, and thus presents an appearance of strength which, from the 
nature of things, it cannot possess. 

A whirlwind will sometimes raise a mass of dust that will appear in 
the air like a solid column, but as soon as the excitement is over, it 
immediately falls to pieces, because of its want of cohesion; and in 
like manner it may sometimes happen that the introduction of a new 
and wonderfully ingenious theory will be productive of such admira- 
tion and enthusiasm, that in the general whirl of excitement the in- 
dividuality of different minds, and the separate and distinct stand- 
points of different individuals, will for the time being be merged and 
lost sight of, and men may thus be led to suppose that they have at 
last hit upon a ''method of thought" that opens to their view that 
Utopian land which is to furnish a basis for unity independent of 
Divinity. But when the whirlwind shall have ceased, it will be found 
to have in it as little stability, no more cohesion, than the column of 
dust. 

Even though it should be presented to the world clothed in ves- 
tures that are really the production of civilization, a finite concep- 
tion of our relations to the universe is a false conception. That it 
should falsely claim as its own all the precious "jewels" of Christ, 
or have ascribed to it all those attributes of true happiness which 
Christianity alone has the power to confer, may render it deceptive 
in its appearance, but it does not in the least degree alter its nature. 

Let the appearance of things be what they may, we will ever find 
the avenue to the " tree of life " effectually guarded by the " cheru- 
bims " and the "flaming sword." A thing that is "dead" cannot re- 
store itself to life, and man cannot elevate himself to God by the 
works of his own mind or hands. 1 

The increased knowledge of mechanical combinations, chemistry, 
etc., the use of steam, and the command of electricity, with all their 
benefits, we may well suppose to be the effects of human improve- 
ment, but it is very certain they are not its cause. 

As I have already said, it would seem not unreasonable to suppose 
— or I should rather say, it would seem unreasonable not to suppose 
— that as the people composing a community or nation permit them- 
selves to be more and more influenced by the indwelling spirit of their 



See Appendix, Note 2. 



72 ^y INQUIRY. 

Saviour, to them would be committed increased power over the ele- 
ments ; that an increase or more general diffusion of Divine light 
would bring increased facilities for controlling and preserving the out- 
ward creation. 

And these increased facilities bring increased responsibilities ; for 
they may be used either to preserve the Lord's outward creation or 
to destroy it, — they are but conveniences for the manipulation of 
material things. Considered in themselves, their use does not elevate 
mankind an iota. In the hands of the righteous, men whose hearts 
are pure and under the control of Christ's spirit, they arc blessings 
to the race ; in the hands of those whose hearts are impure, alien- 
ated from God, they are made subservient to the unholy purposes 
of crime and iniquity. A man is good or evil, civilized or degraded, 
not according to the facility with which he can move or use his body, 
but according to the condition of his heart; according as he feels 
himself responsible to his Creator for the manner in which he uses 
those parts of the creation that are placed under his control. 

If civilization rested on the quality of material surroundings, then 
the villian, who fraudulently piles millions upon millions, might from 
the results of his unhallowed greed become the most civilized of the 
race. 

A person may communicate with his friend across the sea as though 
he were present with him ; but that does not make him a righteous 
man. A criminal may ride at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, 
but that will not reform him; perhaps it enables him to perpetrate 
his crime. 

Does any one suppose that the advanced civilization or improved 
condition of the people, that has made a representative government 
possible in the United States, is derived from the power of steam or 
the use of electricity; and that its increase must depend on the in- 
troduction of the spectroscope and telephone ? Is it not rather to be 
supposed that the source of our prosperity is personal integrity, the 
sincere desire of individual members to contribute to the welfare of 
the whole body politic, and the consciousness of each that he is, in 
his measure, responsible for that welfare ? 

If all the people of our country should be suddenly transformed 
into an irresponsible mob, such as held carnival at Pittsburg in the 
summer of 1877, what would all our railroads and phonographs avail? 
But let them all be transformed into conscientious seekers after truth, 
and the land would teem with prosperity and peace even though those 



CIVILIZATION. 73 

tilings had never been heard of. The true elevation of an individual 
or of a nation rests, not on palace-cars nor yet on the analysis of the 
planets, but on integrity of heart, on the sincere and honest desire to 
become conscious of what is right, and then to perform it. 

The government of a nation is the representative of the people that 
compose it, and it almost invariably represents them truly. When 
the people are generally desirous of promoting the right, because it 
is the right, and are willing to make selfish whims and aims subser- 
vient to justice and humanity — the general good, then each one has 
all the elements of government within himself. Men can work in 
harmony when all desire nothing but the right ; and their communal 
interests may be attended to by chosen representatives. But when 
each one regards only his own advancement or the advancement of 
his clique, ignoring the general welfare, though the land were com- 
pletely stocked with all the inventions of the age, and every dwelling 
a model of convenience and ease, yet social order, or even the sem- 
blance of justice and right, could only be maintained by force ; and a 
government of force, to have the least stability, must come from an 
irresponsible central power or single man : therefore, when men are 
disunited by self-interest and each must gratify himself, they are in- 
evitably suffering themselves to be placed at the mercy of a tyrant; 
with their own hands they are shaping for themselves the foundation 
stones of despotism. But when they are united by their interest for 
the commonweal, they can control their own affairs, make a govern- 
ment to suit themselves, even though they should upturn the soil with 
wooden plows and weave their clothes by hand. 

A government by the people is only possible to the degree that 
the people are individually governed by the right ; and right — true 
righteousness — is inseparable from the will of God ; and that which 
is known of God is manifest within. 

To know His will, we must "keep the eye " — eye of the mind, or 
in other words, our consciousness — " single to the light," the light of 
Christ shining on the heart or conscience. Here we have the basis 
and corner-stone of freedom; the source of all prosperity and peace 
that can be permanent and real. 1 When men forget that they are 
but stewards, and that the vineyard is the Lord's ; when, instead of 
being humbled by a sense of their responsibilities, they become infat- 
uated with their endowments, and take to themselves those things of 

1 See Appendix, Note 3. 



74 AN INQUIRY. 

earth that Omnipotence has provided for their comfort as though 
they were theirs by natural right ; let them call to their aid all their 
powers of discrimination, and exalt their own wisdom as they may, 
yet they must become prisoners in bonds to one of those insidious 
but potent servants of the evil one, avarice, pride, or luxury. 

Genuine prosperity, even outward prosperity, does not exist except 
as a child of righteousness : remove it from this foundation, and it 
at once becomes a serpent, insidious and charmful, but venomous as 
death. It has overthrown nation after nation, and been the downfall 
of countless myriads of men. And it is a danger that it behooves 
the people of the present time especially, to guard against most sedu- 
lously. 

The nations have been elevated to a higher plane, and with their 
elevation they have been afforded increased facilities for outward ac- 
tion : the forces of nature have been placed largely under their con- 
trol, yet this has brought no increase of inherent strength. Men 
have besought the Lord, and He has vouchsafed His " presence," and 
with it He has brought " dominion " over the earth. But there is in 
our midst this element, subtile and specious, yet active and persistive, 
which, if allowed to do its work, will nullify every advantage. Spread- 
ing before our view the kingdoms of this world and all the richness 
and voluptuousness, and the glory and power that man may attain 
therein, it tells us that this is our natural inheritance; that if we but 
grasp these things and exercise our prudence, partake freely of the 
fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the forbidden fruit, 
we will become covered w T ith honors, and may take our rest in joy. 
Stupefying us with self-sufficiency and effeminacy, it would make 
of our privileges cords drawing us to hell, instead of blessings de- 
signed by heaven. 

When in heathen countries we find those who worship the elements, 
or ascribe a saving power to the works of their own hands, they are 
called " idolaters." The self-constituted exponents of the civilization 
of our own highly enlightened land taking to themselves all acces 
sions to knowledge, and thereby refining upon the heathen workman- 
ship and vastly multiplying the objects of adoration, attribute to these 
things a power to elevate the race, — some of them tell us about the 
" potency of matter," — but yet they repel with scorn an imputation of 
the term "idolatry." Regarding it as a word fit to be used only in 
connection with barbarity and savage degradation, it would seem that 
they have found in "esthetic influence," " progressive thought," " ad- 



CIVILIZATION. 75 

vanced culture of this progressive age," " the glorious reign of science," 
or some such euphonious phrase with indeterminate meaning, a sub- 
stitute adapted to their more sentient nerves. As for the difference 
in principle there is none. 1 

People of to-day may cherish the hope that they can surmount the 
imperfections and adverse influences of their present environment by 
means of the investigation of natural phenomena, — the accumulation 
of material facts ; just as a people of a former age were pleased with 
the notion that they could raise themselves above the vicissitudes of 
earth by an accumulation of bricks and slime. The result in the one 
case must be as it was in the other — Babel, confusion and diversity 
of tongues. 

"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." — Luke xvii. 
20. Man is improved or civilized, not by what he sees of the mate- 
rial universe, by what comes to him through his five natural senses, 
but by faithfully committing his heart to the directing power of Di- 
vine enlightenment. It is by this that he is enabled to perceive the 
things of the universe in their true relations, and to use them as God 
designed that they should be used. Man thus becomes as the wheel 
in the hands of the potter; the instrument by which God makes 
Himself, His will and attributes, manifest in the world. 

Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the 
outside of them may be clean also. — Matt, xxiii. 26. 

The feeling or actuating motive within the breast of man — the 
condition of his "heart" — is that which gives form to his influence 
on the world, and which may give the world power over him. If 
his sense of duty — the effects of the Divine light shining on his con- 
science — is ignored, and his feelings allowed to revert to himself, the 
world becomes to him but as a field for the gratification of his sensual 
propensities, his pride, and his ambition. The things of earth, which 
it was - intended that he should have command of, and use for his 
comfort and benefit during the present state of existence, have then 
become to him as hooks with chains, that draw him irresistibly down 
the vortex of destruction. But when the " heart " is right, and the 
conscience pure and bright, then Christ sits on his throne, and- man 
has become " the temple of the living God." 

" Behold," said Jesus, "the kingdom of God is within you." — Luke 
xvii. 21. 



See Appendix, Note 4. 



76 AN INQUIRY. 

Therefore those who would advance the civilization or improve- 
ment of the human race, must teach people to look " within " them- 
selves for it; holding up to their view, that all other things must 
give place to the effort to " keep the eye single to the light." 

The "faith" of Christianity is not a faith in some half-defined, 
"unthinkable" notion; not a dependence on any one's "vicarious 
atonement." But it is a "faith " in a vitalizing power, that is ever 
present within us to enlighten us ; the power of one who is ever pres- 
ent with God, making " intercession " for us, and by the government 
of whose spirit in our minds "we receive the atonement," — become 
One with Christ ; for atonement is at-one-ment. 

But, if we would live with Christ, we must die as to the influence 
of the world. " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." The love of God cannot be united with the love of 
self. " "What concord hath Christ with Belial ?" The spirit of the 
world, or "carnal mind, is enmity against God." — Horn. viii. 7. 
"The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, 
therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." — Jas. 
iv. 4. 

In crucifying Jesus Christ, the spirit of the world only did that which 
it was natural for it to do. It was this same spirit that had slain 
Abel; it was the same disposition that sold Joseph into Egypt, that 
had killed the prophets, and that had lately beheaded John the Bap- 
tist. It was this same spirit that afterwards cast men and women 
to be devoured by wild beasts, and established the Inquisition. It is 
its very nature to " murder the just " and "to slay the innocent:'' 
the first it made manifest in the crucifixion of Christ, — the latter it 
exemplifies each time it causes a child to slight the first gleams of 
the light of Christ in its heart. 

It was the power of the same "old serpent" that has persecuted 
the righteous in every age of the world ; it is this that builds our 
palaces of iniquity, and institutes our schools of vice ; it is to-day 
bringing misery and desolation to thousands of hearthstones ; it has 
obtained power in the world to control the natural life of man. 

If we would escape its influence, we must " be born again," regene- 
rated by the "seed incorruptible," become of a " spiritual generation," 
and transferred to that kingdom which has been established in the 
world, yet " is not of the world." 

The kingdom of Antichrist is founded on darkness or spiritual 
"death." It deceives and leads men captive by keeping them in 



CIVILIZATION. 77 

darkness; it has nothing wherewith to recompense its subjects but a 
short time of self-gratification, — a little season in which they may in- 
dulge their natural lusts ; it can give no peace to the mind, — it may 
satiate, but it can never satisfy. It leads on as an ignis-fatuus. The 
satisfaction which it promises, like the cup of Tantalus, is ever just 
beyond our reach. It is the "broad way" that leads to destruction; 
the paths thereof all go down to the " pit." 

The kingdom of Christ is founded upon light, — the Infinite Intel- 
ligence of God. It leads its subjects to become " children of the 
light and of the day." It brings to them peace and u unutterable 

j°y-" 

The seeds of these two kingdoms are in the heart of every man 
struggling for the mastery, — to which shall we give our allegiance ? 
Shall we entrust our interests in immortality — eternal life — to Christ 
or Belial? -Eeader! here is the matter for thy choice. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

CONSCIENCE. 



" Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright ; but they have sought < 
ventions." — Eccl. vii. 29. 



ANY one who has attentively read the preceding chapter will have 
discovered that, unless my position is very wide of the mark, to 
fully understand man's relation to the Divine government, we must 
first understand the nature and functions of the "conscience." Hence 
a full and intelligent examination of the subject which we have had 
before us seems to require a further and more definite inquiry on this 
particular point. 

If there is any one abstract principle to the truth of which the 
people, of our own country at least, give a more universal assent than 
to any other, I suppose it is the supremacy of the rights of conscience. 
But when we come to speak of the origin and nature of it, we find 
that there are few subjects in regard to which their ideas are more 
diverse, vague, and undefined; and resulting from obedience to its 
dictates, we have presented to our view actions as antagonistic in their 
nature as darkness is to light. What a Hindoo does from a motive 
of conscience, an Englishman shrinks from as a henious crime ; and 
even when we confine our observations to the most enlightened na- 
tions of the earth, those making profession of the Christian name, we 
find that practices, which some conscientiously believe to be essential 
to the fulfillment of the Will of God, are by others conscientiously 
regarded as abominations in His sight. 

Hence, we will be driven to conclude that, however it may be in 
theory, in practice the dictates of conscience are diverse and antago- 
nistic, and therefore cannot be taken as an ultimate or absolute crite- 
rion of the truth. 

But a further examination of the subject will show that this con- 



CONSCIENCE. 79 

dition of things does not lessen the importance of conscience, or di- 
minish in the least degree the rights thereof. 

But, before proceeding any further, let us stop to inquire what is 
meant by "conscience:" for this purpose, we will naturally turn to 
the Dictionary. But in this case, I think, it will be without receiv- 
ing much additional light on the subject; for it seems to me that 
Webster's definition is nothing more than a very good representation 
of the general confusion of ideas concerning the matter. He defines 
the word as follows : — 

Conscience, derived from eonscire, to know ; to be conscious. 

1. Knowledge of our own thoughts; consciousness. 

2. The knowledge of our states or character, as right or wrong ; 
the faculty, power, or principle which decides on the lawfulness or 
unlawfulness of our actions and affections, and approves or condemns 
them ; the moral faculty, the moral sense, &c. 

Here we are told that " conscience " is " knowledge," and in almost 
the same breath that it is a "faculty." But "knowledge" is not a 
"faculty," neither is a "faculty " " knowledge." 

The eye may receive the impress of a tree upon its retina, but 
that does not make the eye a tree ; neither has the eye any power to 
create the tree. A man may possess all his faculties in their full 
vigor, the conscience included, but he will have no knowledge unless 
they are properly opened to its reception. What I mean to say is, 
that knowledge is distinct from the faculties. "Conscience" is the 
faculty of consciousness ; and we cannot be conscious of anything un- 
less it is first perceived, — which is to say, we cannot be conscious of 
"knowledge" unless it has an existence independent of the "con- 
science." That this existence may be in many cases confined to the 
imagination, does not alter the matter. 

To state the matter in a few words, " conscience " is merely the 
reflector of perception or "knowledge." It receives the impress of 
knowledge as a mirror receives the impress of a human face ; of it- 
self, the one can no more furnish us information than the other can 
present us with flesh and blood. 

Hence, the " conscience " is not a " faculty, power, or principle 
which decides" on anything whatever; it merely reflects things as 
they are perceived, or takes their impress in the shape that they 
happen to be presented. If there is any decision to be made, it must 
devolve on an intellect or will. 

If we are made conscious of the " lawfulness or unlawfulness of 

6 



8(J AN INQUIRY. 

our actions," there must be present a cause sufficient for the produc- 
tion of such a consciousness; which is to say, there must be impressed 
upon the conscience — or present, that it may be reflected — a knowl- 
edge or perception of the requisites of law. 

A consciousness is the creature of perception ; and if we examine 
the matter further, we will find that it is not only the creature of 
perception, but that it is invariably a result or accompaniment of per- 
ception ; that the action of the conscience is essential to give effect 
to a perception, or convey it to the mind ; and therefore, it is an at- 
tribute of every creature that possesses the power of perception, or 
the least degree of intelligence. In other words, the conscience — 
faculty of consciousness — is a faculty that is not confined to the hu- 
man race. 

When a person approaches the edge of a stream, the little fish, 
though scarcely visible to the naked eye, immediately swim away, be- 
cause they are conscious of the presence of an unfamiliar form. 

If a hawk commits depredations in the hen-yard, all the efforts of 
the farmer to get near it on foot will probably be unavailing ; but let 
him mount a horse, and he can come within easy gun-shot. In the 
approach of the man, the hawk is conscious of danger ; but when his 
form is connected with 'that of the horse, it recognizes only the most 
prominent object, and in its presence it has the consciousness of safety. 

The dog that has been killing sheep is generally so conscious that 
that employment is opposed to the wishes of his master, that his ex- 
pression of it has passed into a proverb. 

When a man is at work upon a high scaffold, and finds that the 
frame that supports it is giving way, he immediately becomes con- 
scious of the unsafety of his position, and at once endeavors to secure 
his retreat. Or when a person is tempted to eat for his dinner some- 
thing which he knows will disarrange his digestive organs, the con- 
sciousness of probable future pain comes in conflict with the conscious- 
ness of present enjoyment, and perhaps it is with much hesitation 
that he decides between them. In each of these cases the conscious- 
ness is the impress of perception. 

The consciousness of man embraces by far the widest range, be- 
cause his superior intelligence comprehends a far wider range of facts; 
his perception extends to a far wider range of realities. But in each 
case the consciousness, as to the nature of the thing, is exactly the 
same. Henc.3 we have before us the fact, that any consci< »usn< tss based 
on our perceptive faculties is nothing different in its character from 



CONSCIENCE. 81 

the consciousness of every creature that possesses perceptive faculties 
or the least degree of intelligence. But this does not furnish any 
basis for the "moral sense," or consciousness of our duties to God. 
Tor it is plain that, so far as we are dependent on our natural percep- 
tive faculties for our consciousness, we can become conscious only of 
those things which these faculties may perceive ; and as their per- 
ceptions do not extend to either infinite realities or the relations of 
the finite to the infinite, as a matter of course they can give us no 
consciousness of them, — they furnish no cause for such an effect. 
This being the case, we see at once that we cannot be dependent 
on any natural or finite faculties for the religious feeling, or for any 
consciousness of the duties of life. 

Therefore, if we have any consciousness of the requirements of our 
Creator, it must be produced by something superior to our natural 
faculties ; it can be the impress of nothing short of an Infinitely in- 
telligent supernatural influence. This is the only " power or principle " 
that can " decide on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our actions and 
affections," because it is the only " power or principle " that can per- 
ceive or know what the law of God requires, or what is lawful or 
unlawful. 1 

Now observe, a consciousness of finite realities may be formed by 
the operation of our finite faculties ; but any consciousness of infinite 
realities, or of the relations of the finite to the infinite, which embraces 
everything in connection with the duties of life or the fulfillment of 
the design of our creation, must be formed by the presence of a super- 
natural intelligence. As this cannot be recognized or perceived by 
our natural perceptive faculties, of course they can give no aid in mak- 
ing us conscious of it; therefore it must operate immediately on our 
conscience, impress thereupon the " image of God," or beget in us a 
consciousness of what He requires, — His will or design. Now re- 
member this must all be accomplished independent of our finite per- 
ceptive faculties; hence of it we have a consciousness, — just a con- 
sciousness and nothing more. 

" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hear est the sound 
thereof," (or feelest the impress thereof,) "but canst not tell" (or per- 
ceive by natural faculties) " whence it cometh, or whither it goeth ; 



1 A consciousness being the creation of perception, as a matter of course a 
correct consciousness of infinite relations must be based on the perceptions of 
an Infinite Intelligence, 



82 AN INQUIRY. 

so is every one that is born of the Spirit," — or so is the Spirit to 
every one that is Lorn thereof. — John iii. 8. 

Now I do not wish to be misunderstood as saying, that the power 
of God over us is limited to the production of a consciousness; for 
His power is unlimited, as likewise is the manner in which He may 
manifest it; but my object is to call attention to the fact, that in the 
exercise of His power He has given to man the freedom of choice 
between obedience and disobedience, made him in this respect a free 
agent. To choose the right we must first become conscious of what 
is right. And such a consciousness can only be produced by the im- 
mediate presence of God's spirit — His will ; therefore, a conscious- 
ness thus produced is the only means by which we can recognize, in 
its true significance, any manifestation of His power, or see things 
as they really are. 

Such being the case, it is plain that this consciousness is our only 
basis for right action; hence "faith," or dependence upon it as the 
guide of our actions, must be to us the only basis of righteousness; 
and the want of this "faith," the measure of our weakness. 

"When our resources are limited to finite realities, our consciousness 
can be based only on finite perceptions or experience ; but in regard to 
infinite realities, our perception or experience must be based on or re- 
ceive its form through the medium of a consciousness, — a consciousness 
produced immediately by God. In the first, the operation of the in- 
tellect gives shape to the perceptions, and forms the impression on the 
conscience ; in the latter, the consciousness formed by Infinite Intel- 
ligence furnishes a basis for the operation of the intellect, and gives- 
shape to or moulds and regulates the perceptions. In the one case 
the perception of the relations of things, or our duties and require- 
ments, is formulated by the imagination; in the other, by absolute 
truth or Infinite Intelligence. " Through faith we understand that the 
worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are 
seen were not made of things which do appear." — Heb. xi. 3. That 
these conclusions are in unison with the doctrines of the Bible, I think 
no one can find reason to doubt. 

" Without faith," says the apostle, " it is impossible to please Him," 
(God) ; " for he that Cometh to God must believe that He is, and that 
He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." — Heb. xi. 6. 

In this declaration, we have clearly before us the only possible 
ground for any practical confidence or faith in God. It must rest on 
two conditions : — 1st, We must recognize the fact of His existence, 



CONSCIENCE. 83 

that "He is." 2d, We must recognize the fact that He may exert a 
beneficent influence ; that His infinite power, intelligence, and love, 
His ability and desire to benefit us or improve our condition, is avail- 
able or within our reach. 

A person is not very likely to seek with much diligence for any- 
thing, unless he believes it possible to find it, and that his search 
will be rewarded. 

That the kingdom of God, the only place in which we can have any 
ground for "faith" or reasonable hope of finding Him, is within our- 
selves, but that we cannot find it or become conscious of it by " obser- 
vation," — the use of our finite perceptive faculties, — are facts directly 
affirmed by Jesus Christ: "The kingdom of God cometh not with 
observation, neither shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo there ! for behold 
the kingdom of God is within you." — Luke xvii. 20, 21. 

The apostle exhorts the Ephesians to place their "faith" on Christ, 
desiring that they may be "strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
the inner man; that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith." — 
JEph. iii. 16. On another occasion, he shows that this " faith " is what 
constitutes any one a child of God: "For ye are all the children of 
God by faith in Jesus Christ," — Gal. iii. 26. And in the following, he 
explains the matter so clearly as to leave no room for doubt : — " They 
that are in the flesh," depending on fleshly or natural powers of per- 
ception, " cannot please God ;" they cannot perceive what God re- 
quires. He goes on to show, that the way to please God and escape 
from the dominion of their fleshly conceptions, is to have the Spirit of 
Christ to dwell in their hearts as a ruler, — a redeeming and life-giv- 
ing power: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; if so 
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not 
the Spirit of God," dwelling in him as a guide or Saviour, "he is 
none of His : and if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of 
sin; but the spirit is life, because of righteousness." 

It is clearly his intention to show that, if Christ comes to rule our 
consciences, we must have ceased to depend on our carnal conceptions. 
They will have become "dead" to us, because it has become manifest 
that their only tendency is to produce wrong actions ; their sinfulness 
or tendency to produce sin is made to appear, and consequently we 
have ceased to rely upon them ; and the Spirit has become the life — 
the actuating or life-giving principle — because, recognizing its "right- 
eousness," or inherent tendency and power to produce right action, 
we have " faith " to depend upon it. 



84 AN INQUIRY. 

The apostle continues : " But, if the Spirit of Him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead, dwell in you," (is practically acknowledged to 
dwell in you as a Redeemer,) " He that raised up Christ from the 
dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwell - 

eth in you For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 

are the sons of God." — Mom. viii. 8-16. 

The estimate placed by the early disciples of Christ on the finite 
conceptions of men may be inferred from the. language of the apostle 
to the Corinthians : " Let no man deceive himself; if any man among 
you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he 
may be wise ; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. 
.... And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that 
they are vain." — 1 Cor. iii. 18. It thus appears that whenever we 
desire the best welfare, either of ourselves or others, the conscious- 
ness produced by the Indwelling Spirit of Christ, or " faith " in it, 
"is the substance of the thing hoped for;" albeit this confidence or 
"faith " must rest on " the evidence of things not seen." — Hcb. xi. 1. 

A consciousness of infinite realities can be produced by nothing but 
Infinite Intelligence. We can know nothing of the will of our Crea- 
tor except as we recognize the impress thereof upon our consciences. 
This being the case, it is clear that the welfare of any people must be 
proportionate to the degree in which each individual is encouraged to 
depend on, or is educated to feel the necessity of a dependence on, 
not his perceptive faculties, but a pure conscience for a knowledge 
of his duty. In other words, it must be proportionate to the practical 
acknowledgment of the rights of conscience. 

We have thus brought before us the fact, that by far the most im- 
portant faculty of which man is possessed is his conscience. It is the 
health or condition of this faculty, and this alone, which determines 
the position and influence of each individual in the ranks of civiliza- 
tion. 

It appears that, in his original natural condition as he was first cre- 
ated, man's conscience was entirely under the control of his Creator. 
It was then a pure instrumentality, whereon the "light," will, or "im- 
age " of the Creator was impressed and so reflected to the mind; and 
that God designed by this means to rule the earth through man, who 
is in reality a " steward," the keeper of the Lord's vineyard. 

It also appears that he was a free agent ; that his rational and per- 
ceptive faculties — his perception of the various objects of the out- 
ward creation, in connection with his power for ratiocination — seemed 



CONSCIENCE. 85 

to furnish him with an independent basis for knowledge ; " the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil." 

Now let us inquire what effect the " eating " of the " fruit " of this 
" tree " would have. 

"When we depend on our natural perceptive and rational faculties 
for our knowledge, of course our knowledge must be limited to such 
things as may have been, either directly or indirectly, brought before 
the view of our minds, or before our consciences, through the medium 
of these faculties. We must now keep in view the fact, that the con- 
science has no power to inform the mind, but merely takes the im- 
press of perception ; hence it reflects things, not as they really are, 
but as we perceive them, or are led to suppose that they are. 

Therefore in this state of the case our consciousness must be the 
creature of our experience or education ; or perhaps it would be more 
correct to say that it is the creature of our opinions, or of the infer- 
ences that we have drawn from our experience and education ; and 
these inferences, as we have heretofore had occasion to observe, are 
far more likely to be false than true ; and even if they should hap- 
pen to be true, it would not make a particle of difference, because it 
would be impossible for us, while limited to our finite faculties, to 
know whether they are so or not. For, as has already been said, a 
correct opinion is not conceivable unless it is based on an absolutely 
correct appreciation of all the facts pertaining to the matter; and 
while limited to our finite faculties it is utterly impossible for us to 
be certain, either that we have all the facts under consideration, or 
that we correctly appreciate them if we have ; therefore, under these 
conditions, any opinion that we may form in regard to the duties of 
life can be nothing better than an imagination. 

This being the case, it plainly appears that to be at all reliable, our 
consciousness must be entirely uninfluenced by any opinion based upon 
finite experience. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with 
God." 

To perceive the "truth," or to "see God," the "heart" or con- 
science must be "pure," — contaminated by nothing that has not been 
formed by Infinite Intelligence. Hence it will be seen, that just so 
far as we attempt to decide, in regard to our life-work or duties, by 
our finite opinions, just to that degree is our consciousness in regard 
to the matter unreliable. When we undertake to rely upon our own 
finite powers, or to partake or " eat " of the fruit of the " tree of 



86 AN INQUIRY. 

knowledge of good and evil," — decide what is good or what is evil, 
what we may do or leave undone, according to our finite experience, 
— any consciousness that we may obtain in regard to the matter will 
be worthless, without the power to give us " life " or truth : hence, in 
taking upon ourselves to " eat" of the "tree of knowledge" we ne- 
cessarily deprive ourselves of the" tree of life;" because we contam- 
inate our conscience with fictitious realities ; we cover it with fig- 
ments, " fig-leaves," or impurities ; and it is only the " pure in heart " 
that can "see God," or possess a pure consciousness of His truth or 
will. 

Let us now, in the light of these facts, examine the position of our 
first parents. In their original condition, their conscience was en- 
tirely clothed with God's spirit ; hence, there was nothing reflected 
from it but the truth, or the requirements of His will, — they were 
created in the image of God. So long as their dependence was en- 
tirely on this, they were fulfilling the purposes of their creation : but 
it is impossible to keep the attention or " eye " directed to two oppo- 
site objects at the same time; therefore, just so soon as they at- 
tempted to depend on their natural perceptive and rational faculties, 
— of course, their attention must have been removed from the true 
light or spirit, — they had become "dead" to the truth. God was no 
longer present as a director or illuminator to their minds ; conse- 
quenily He had ceased to make them conscious of their real require- 
ments, — their conscience thus had become "naked" of the truth. 

Under these circumstances they could be conscious of no require- 
ments except such as were limited to natural or finite things, unless 
they were made conscious thereof by the renewed appearance or visi- 
tation of God. And if, when they were thus made conscious of His 
presence, instead of placing their dependence entirely upon Him, they 
permitted fear to take hold of them, became "afraid" or reluctant to 
withdraw their dependence from tangible things, of course they at 
once endeavored to excuse themselves. To satisfy the consciousness 
of the violation of Divine requirements, or the feeling of condemna- 
tion for disobedience, they formulated requirements to suit their own 
apprehensions; or, in other words, they endeavored to hide behind 
the "trees of the garden," or make their rational and perceptive fac- 
ulties screen them; and with the leaves or productions of those 
"trees" they wove a figment, with which they covered their con- 
sciences. Their attention being thus still turned to finite things, 



CONSCIENCE. 87 

their consciousness would again be limited to finite requirements, 
and their consciences would again become naked of the truth. 

We have already seen that, if man's conscience is "naked" of the 
supernatural light, he can be conscious of no requirements except 
such as are common in different degrees to the whole animal creation : 
in other words, his consciousness concerning his requirements will 
be based entirely on the cravings of his animal nature, and he can 
perceive the relations of things only so far as they are connected with 
satisfying the cravings of his animal nature. He has become, so far 
as his perceptions go, merely the most intellectual or highest order of 
animals to be found on the earth. He is completely clothed with the 
" skins " of beasts, — that is, his conscience is clothed only with the 
requirements of the animal. He can be conscious of no requirements 
that extend beyond those of a beast, and, like the beasts, the only aim 
that he can have in life is self-preservation and self-gratification. 1 

Such is the condition in which our first parents must have been 
placed by disobedience, — such is the condition of man as he now comes 
into the world. And it was to redeem him from this condition, or to 
offer to him a means of redemption, and to restore to the world the 
impress of its Creator, that the kingdom of Christ was established in 
the earth. 

As we have seen, man's perception of the requirements of Christ's 
government is received entirely through his conscience. It is in re- 
ality a light shining upon his conscience ; and we have also seen that 
it can be clearly recognized in its true character, to be what it really 
is, only to the degree that the conscience is illuminated by it alone, or 
as the " eye " is kept centred or " single to the light." 

In its first manifestation, it is a " light shining in a dark place," 
perhaps producing little more than a vague consciousness that some- 
thing is required of us beyond what we have yet been able to perceive 
or understand. But, in this apparently insignificant manifestation, 
comparable to the first bursting forth of a "grain of mustard seed, 
the smallest of all seeds," we have the commencement of our religious 
experience, the beginning of our knowledge of truth, our first lesson 

1 Whether or not the clothing of his body was made to correspond with that 
of his mind, or whether all the terms used in the first chapters of Genesis to 
describe man's primitive experience, admit of a literal as well as a metaphor- 
ical interpretation, is a matter of no essential importance to our present in- 
quiry. 



88 -4-# INQUIRY. 

in the school of Christ ; the warfare has commenced between Christ 
and Belial, and the matter is at once presented for our choice. 

But in making this decision, we are beset with many adverse influ- 
ences. In our natural condition, we can perceive no source of happi- 
ness or enjoyment except the gratification of our natural instincts 
and desires ; therefore, we naturally shrink from entertaining any 
view which requires us to deny those desires. 

Hence, when the consciousness of duty to God, or that we are not 
fulfilling our duty to God, is impressed upon our consciences, even 
though we do not at once turn from it and resist it, we are generally 
but too much inclined to hail with delight any view or conception of 
the requirements of duty that makes it appear consistent for us to 
remain in a state of ease and self-indulgence. Thus, like our first 
parents, we are ever ready to hide ourselves behind the " trees of the 
garden." In other words, becoming conscious of the necessity of a 
religious life, we cast around and seek refuge behind whatever eccle- 
siastical conception we are willing to suppose will answer the purposes 
of religion, with the least amount of self-denial. Thus, it has come 
to pass, that the creation and decoration of these " fig-leaves " or fig- 
ments has become the most influential and lucrative occupation to be 
found on the face of the earth. 

But although these fictitious conceptions generally owe their origin 
to the desire for self-gratification, their influence is not by any means 
confined to those who are seeking excuses for a life of self-indulgence. 
For it must be remembered that religion in its first appearance is as 
a little seed ; hence, even when a person is earnestly desirous to know 
the truth, it is not to be expected that all the adverse influences that 
are brought to bear upon the mind will be at once eradicated or over- 
come. This " seed " will grow and extend its influence on the mind 
just so far as we have "faith " to depend upon it; and our "faith " 
in this can increase only as our faith or dependence is withdrawn 
from other things. 

The first consciousness that is recognized in the mind is based on 
the perception of finite realities ; which is to say, on finite experience. 
First, that which is natural; afterwards, that which is spiritual. 

This being the case, when we receive this consciousness of religious 
duty, in endeavoring to satisfy it, we naturally turn to our finite ex- 
perience. As yet, we have recognized only a consciousness, but not 
the nature of that which has produced it ; and having no previous 



CONSCIENCE. 89 

knowledge or experience of any consciousness except such as was 
based on the perception of finite realities, in the endeavor to meet 
this consciousness of further requirements our attention is naturally- 
turned to our finite perceptions, and our conceptions of religious 
requirements come to be cast in a mould which is shaped by our finite 
experience. 

Now, so far as our conceptions of religion are moulded by our finite 
experience, the whole subject practically resolves itself into a ques- 
tion of education ; or to speak after the manner of the " advanced 
thought of the present day," it becomes chiefly a question of " envi- 
ronment." For it is a fact patent to all, that the great mass of man- 
kind receive their experience, particularly in regard to matters of 
duty, at second-hand ; they see things, not as they are, but as they 
have been taught by the various influences that make up an educa- 
tion to believe that they are. Things are to us according to our 
belief. 

Hence, so long as a man's conscience is influenced by his education, 
of course in endeavoring to fulfill his religious duties his attention is 
turned to what he has been taught would meet the requirements of 
religion. If his lot happens to have been cast in a community of 
professing Christians, he is most likely led to conform to the rites and 
ceremonies of some one of the various sects bearing the Christian 
name. If, in another part of the world, perhaps he would be led to 
offer sacrifices to the river Ganges, or to bow down to the sun, or per- 
chance conform to the prescriptions of the Koran ; or if he should be 
thrown under the influence of the "tribunal of science," probably he 
will be induced to lay aside his anxiety, and wait, taking his ease, 
until the link that is to connect its decrees with the practical duties 
of life, which is supposed to be conceived in the fossils and embryos, 
shall have been brought to the time of its deliverance. 

Now all these are nothing more than fictions or imaginations, — 
fig-leaf coverings : they are as screens that come in between man and 
a pure consciousness of the will of his Creator. They may differ in 
size and shape, but they are the same in substance ; they may differ 
in density, but they are of the same material. The operation and 
result is exactly the same, as to its tendency, in each and every case ; 
and whether we call them Christian ceremonies, heathenish abomina- 
tions, or the " advanced thought of the present day," it does not alter 
the unity of their influence a particle. 



90 AN INQUIRY. 

The origin of the religious feeling is the same in all, — it is a unit ; 
and if the "eye" was kept "single" to it without embracing in the 
field of vision extraneous matters, its further growth would be of the 
same direction in all, and all would be brought into " the unity of the 
Spirit/' which is the bond of peace. But such not being the case, we 
have sectarianism, antagonism, and disunity, — " wars, and rumors of 
wars." 



CHAPTER V. 

CONCLUSIONS. 



" Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God and keep His commandments ; for this 
is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good or whether it be evil." — Eccl. xii. 13, 14. 



OUR first and only duty is to fulfill the object for which we were 
created, — the design of our Creator. 
It appears that it was, and still is, the design of the Creator to 
govern the world, through man, not as a mere irresponsible machine,, 
but as an intelligent free agent ; thus, making it necessary for us, if 
we fulfill that design, to base every act on an intelligent perception 
or consciousness of the Creator's will. 1 

1 The reader will please remember, that we are now speaking, not of what 
we are, but of what we may be and ought to be, — of what we are called upon 
to accomplish ; of the prize that we should all strive to possess, without which 
Ave ought not to rest satisfied. It has been shown, that to perform what we 
honestly believe to be right, is the most that is required for the time being; 
but this fact affords us no excuse for being contented to remain in ignorance. 

A perfect fulfillment of the purposes of our creation requires a clear discern- 
ment of the right, and the earnestness with which we strive after this fulfill- 
ment of the will of our Creator must always be the only measure of our hon- 
esty. To say that God is merciful to us in the time of our ignorance, and will 
then, out of compassion, accept the will for the deed, is very different from 
saying that we may make our ignorance an excuse for resting at ease, or for 
shrinking from the necessary labor. Under present circumstances, that re- 
nunciation of the worldly spirit, which is an essential pre-requisite to a union 
with Christ, is rarely — perhaps, never — attained except through many deep 
provings and dispensations of affliction and disappointment: it is he who 
meets these things without shrinking, without looking back and longing for 
the fleshpots of Egypt, but who keeps his eye fixed on the mark set before 
him, that can come into possession of the promised land. 

It is a fact, of which we cannot be too often reminded, that to do the best 
we know really amounts to but very little, unless there is a hearty earnestness 



92 AN INQUIRY. 

We must know what is the Creator's will, but it is not essential 
that we should know why it is His will. Our place is not to sit in 
judgment on the purposes of Deity, but simply to fulfill them. 

No one can doubt that it was the design of the Creator that the 
whole creation should be governed according to His own will, or ac- 
cording to His own wise purposes. But in giving to man u domin- 
ion " or control in the earth and free agency, — the power to antago- 
nize His will, — He necessarily made the fulfillment of His design 
dependent on man's obedience to His commandments. 

Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, all is to be done to 
the glory of God. — (./ Cor. x. 31.) And if done to His glory by a 
free agent, it must not only be performed according to His will, but 
because it is known to be so. Obedience, in any true sense of the 
word, must be the result of a clearly defined effort to obey. 

To perform His will as a free agent, we must first become conscious 
of it, or enabled to decide intelligently that any matter in question is 
a Divine requirement. Except the choice is an intelligent one, there 
can be nothing attached to it in the nature of merit or reward. 

The proper part of a free agent is not merely to act, but to act 
with a definite and well defined purpose. The mere yielding to im- 
pulse, inclination, or proclivity is but to act as though we were irre- 
sponsible creatures, — to disregard the light provided for our guid- 
ance. 1 

to know and perform our whole duty, — the " acceptable and perfect Will of 
God." " Unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write : I know thy 
works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would that thou wert cold or hot. 
So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee 
out of My mouth." — Rev. iii. 14. When a person is actuated by genuine earn- 
estness, even though he should be ignorantly opposing the truth, he does at 
least offer a stable foundation for labor, — at least possesses a stable bottom, 
which furnishes a reasonable ground for hope that the truth may eventually 
find lodgment. But a flimsy, lukewarm condition is without any bottom at 
all, and affords no more ground to hope for the retention and growth of truth 
than a sieve does for the retention of water. To abstain from what we know 
to be wrong is one thing; to be earnest and diligent in the performance of 
righteousness is quite another. — See Appendix, Note 5. 

1 The mere possession of a capacity or special "gift" in a certain direction 
is no reason why it should be cultivated and exercised without regard to con- 
sequences ; it affords no excuse for a course of action that is not limited and 
controlled by the light of truth. A mountebank or gambler, or even a thief 
or a murderer, may be following the bent of his native genius as thoroughly 
as an accomplished artist, a "gifted" writer, or a skillful scientist; and, if the 
latter are unrestrained by any considerations of accountability to God, the 



CONCLUSIONS. 93 

Before this "light" all of our deeds must be brought to judg- 
ment, because it is the only means by which we are enabled to make 
an intelligent choice. In this connection, the language of Jesus is 
most significant : — " This is the condemnation, that light is come into 
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, 
neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved : but he 
that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made 
manifest that they are wrought in God." — John iii. 19-21. 

" That light is come into the world," or that man has received abil- 
ity to know the Will of God, is the only possible ground for "con- 
demnation ;" for men could not be justly held responsible or condemned 
for living in darkness, unless they have within their reach that which 
will enable them to avoid it : to make a choice, there must be at 
least two objects to choose from. But having this " light " placed 
within our reach, to which, if we bring our deeds, it will be " made 
manifest " whether or not they are "wrought in God," or whether 
or not they are according to God's design or approved by Him, no 
one has any excuse for performing an action until he clearly perceives 
that it is required of him, or that it is approved by God. 1 

amount of mischief that may be done in these various fields of labor, if it dif- 
fers at all, is far more in appearance than reality. 

1 Although the fact, that a certain thing is customary, of itself alone affords 
no good reason that we should reject it, yet it is hardly conceivable that 
any one, claiming to be a rational and responsible creature, should feel him- 
self justified in an action merely because it happens to be the custom or fash- 
ion. To conform to a certain line of conduct merely because other people do 
so, is not only resigning all individuality, but also all recognition of responsi- 
bility to God, and in truth admits of no more defence than the yielding our- 
selves to the government of the carnal lusts. In each case the element of re- 
sponsibility is ignored, and this being so, the resources of the work of life are 
limited to those of the animal. And although under favorable surroundings 
there may be a less development of the claws, — a less harsh and repulsive ex- 
terior in the one case than in the other, — yet so far as a realization of the high 
position that man was created to occupy is concerned, there can be but little 
difference between them. 

" "When I am at Rome, I must do as Rome does," is a maxim that history 
abundantly shows to have had no place with those to whom the world has 
been indebted for the promotion of truth and righteousness. The apostle 
calls those who are redeemed by Christ " a peculiar people." And to suppose 
that a person's example will have an elevating influence without his being 
peculiar in respect to those whose dependence is on their outward surround- 
ings, or the inventions and policies of men, — those who are enslaved to the 
customs and maxims of the world, — is but to suppose that a person can effect- 
ually lead others to forsake folly while he himself remains immersed therein. 



94 AN INQUIRY. 

To perform an act because we do not happen to see that it will do 
any hurt, or merely because we do not feel condemned by our con- 
science, — which is the same thing as saying because we have not light 
on the subject, — or even because we indulge in a blind hope that it 
will do some good, is to base our action on our want of understand- 
ing, to deliberately take for our guide ignorance instead of light, 
which the language of Christ as well as sound reason clearly shows 
to be a matter for " condemnation." In fact, for all intents and pur- 
poses it is a denial of the light, — a giving the supremacy to our own 
finite judgment, which is "foolishness." "He that trusteth in his 
own heart is a fool." — Prov. xxviii. 26. 

It must ever be remembered that we are free agents : although the 
light, which makes manifest to each individual, "hath appeared unto 
all men," yet it is not forced upon us : it is for us to choose whether 
or not we submit our deeds to the light, that their nature may be 
"made manifest." The only true ground for the absence of "con- 
demnation " is, that it is manifest that the deed is " wrought in God." 
When this is not manifest, or when we are without certain evidence 
whether it is so or not, we have no sound basis for any judgment at 
all. To justify an action merely because I do not feel condemned, is 
but to justify myself for walking in darkness, or putting " darkness 
for light." The fact that "light is come into the world " being the 
only ground for " condemnation," we can reasonably expect to distin- 
guish or feel what properly comes under " condemnation " only by 
the illumination of the light. If we are justified by the absence of 
its manifestations, then we are as well without the light as with it. 

It is useless for any one to attempt to frame a superstructure, un- 
less he knows the character and form of the foundation on which it is. 
to rest. In the present case the " foundation is already laid," and its 
requirements are known only to Him who laid it. Hence, the super- 
structure, which in this case is the work of life, must be shaped en- 
tirely under His direction. 

It is as necessary to-day, as it was formerly, that those who are- 
engaged in the Christian warfare should " tarry " in the city of Jeru- 
salem until endued with power from on high. 

We have it from no less than the highest authority, that men are- 
held responsible or are to be brought to "judgment " even for " every 
idle word." " I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak, 
they shall give account thereof in the da} of judgment." Now cer- 
tainly, every word spoken without a care in regard to its tendency and 



CONCLUSIONS. ■ 95 

influence, or without keeping before us the fact that we are responsi- 
ble for the legitimate effect, is either an idle word or something worse. 
We are held responsible for such, simply because " light is come into 
the world," or because we are furnished with ability to fulfill the de- 
sign of our creation ; and the fulfillment of this design requires that 
we should bring every deed, whether it be thought, word, or act, " to 
the light," to know whether or not it is " wrought in " or approved 
by God." To act or speak without this knowledge, or at least hon- 
estly supposing that we have this knowledge, is but to act or speak 
without regard to the design of God, or without feeling or appreci- 
ating the full extent of our responsibility to Him. Without this, 
there can be no such thing as " unity in the Spirit," which is the only 
basis for the " bond of peace " or of any true freedom, or any " eleva- 
tion " or " advancement " of humanity. 

Doubtless, it was because of these facts that Christ repeatedly im- 
pressed on his disciples the necessity for them to "watch;" that the 
apostle Peter enjoins it on all to " be sober, and watch unto prayer," 
1 Pet. 4-7 ; and that Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to " pray with- 
out ceasing," 1 Thess. v. 17; and the Ephesians, to pray "always 
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and to watch thereunto 
with all perseverance." — Eph. vi. 18. 

It being God's design to rule the world through man, it is plain 
that if man fulfills that design he must become as an instrument, en- 
tirely under the control of God. In the language of Scripture, he 
must have " ceased from his own works." The design of God cannot 
be fully accomplished either in or through him until he has ceased 
to be actuated by human or finite conceptions. 

We have found, that all of our actions that are performed in the 
capacity of intelligent creatures receive their shape from impres- 
sions made upon the conscience ; that these impressions, at least so 
far as our actions or duties are concerned, are false or true according 
to the source from which they are received ; but whether false or 
true, they represent the sum total of our available knowledge concern- 
ing any matter in regard to which we may be called upon to decide. 
Knowledge or perception is available only as it is impressed upon or 
reflected by the conscience, or as we become conscious of it. 

We have seen, that all questions of right or wrong, or of duty, are 
simply questions in regard to the Will of God, and that His will is 
impressed upon the conscience only by the "light" or "seed" of 

7 



9G AN INQUIRY. 

Christ's kingdom; and this "seed" is implanted in the "heart" of 
each individual : hence each individual stands primarily in exactly 
the same position in regard to obtaining a knowledge of what God re- 
quires of him. " Ye need not that any man teach you ; but as this 
same anointing teacheth you :" therefore, outward instrumentalities 
can be of no use in religion, except so far as they turn the attention 
of men to this light within themselves. 

To do this is the use and legitimate tendency of the Bible, as it also 
must be of all genuine preaching, praying, or exhortation. 

No church government, no preaching, exhortation, or performance 
of any kind, is of any real use whatever, except so far as it accom- 
plishes this purpose. 

It is plainly enough to be seen that any finite* conception, or any 
sectarian organization and machinery for spiritual government that 
is based on finite conceptions, must inevitably tend to antagonize such 
a purpose instead of accomplishing it. 

Surely to teach whole congregations to depend on one or two men 
for the communication of God's commandments ; that a 4ew men may 
be set apart with, perhaps, no qualification but the diploma of a col- 
lege, to preach or pray at stated intervals, as though the concoctions 
of their imaginations were of some value as a representation of God's 
will ; that to sit and listen to an organ or the singing of a choir is to 
perform the worship which each individual owes to his God, — I say, 
surely all this has but little tendency to make the people feel that 
they are, each one, immediately responsible to his Creator, or to lead 
each individual to seek for truth within himself, to give heed to that 
" law " which is written " in the inward parts." 

The church of Christ is his body, by and through which he is per- 
forming on the earth the work assigned. This, his visible body, is 
now made up of " many members " (1 Cor. xii. 12); all persons who 
have become joined thereto by yielding obedience to his spirit, all 
those who have been "baptized into one body by one Spirit," "and 
have been all made to drink into one Spirit." — 1 Cor. xii. 13. 

Being composed of distinct individuals, the strength and harmo- 
nious working of the body must depend on the degree that each of 
these is governed by the One common head. As the sap from the 
root gives life to the various branches of the vine, so must the various 
members of his body receive their " life " or actuating principle from 
the Spirit of Christ: hence, in the service of the church, each indi- 



CONCL USIONS. 97 

vidual must be left free to perform such work as may be assigned him 
by the One indwelling spirit. 1 Therefore, each individual must wait 
until he knows what the Spirit requires of him ; and, as he can know 
nothing of this except it is made manifest immediately by the Spirit 
within himself, or impressed upon his conscience immediately by the 
Spirit of Christ, he must first strive after a purification of his con- 
science ; like Jacob of old, he must wrestle for the blessing. Here, 
then, is the only ground of true worship ; yet it will scarcely be de- 
nied that the methods of the various sects of Christendom have but 
few points of resemblance to this. 2 

All the different members being careful to be influenced by the 



1 Perhaps it is well here to remember, that to be left free to obey the Spirit 
is something very different from being left free to disobey it, or to act without 
regard to the unity thereof. 

2 The rites and practices here referred to have no legitimate correspondence 
with the performances required by the Jewish law during the time of the Mo- 
saic dispensation. Those were ordained as an incentive to humility, — as a 
continual reminder to the people that their then present condition was one of 
imperfection, with which they were not to rest satisfied. But we are now 
speaking of those who profess to live under the Christian dispensation, who 
claim to have passed from the observance of the type to the possession of the 
antitype, — from the shadow to the substance, — that we have presented to us 
or placed immediately within our reach a state in which we may rest satisfied ; 
that we may if we will receive the " adoption of sons," and be " delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."— 
Rom. v. 21. To substantiate or bring people to realize the truth of this claim 
is the end of all true Christian labor, but it seems absurd to suppose that this 
can be accomplished while insisting on the necessity or even present useful- 
ness of typical worship. Certainly it was not without reason that the apostle 
expostulated with the Galatians : — " But now, after that ye have known God," 
or rather, are known of God, " how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly 
elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ? Ye observe days and 
months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon 
you labor in vain." — Gal. iv. 9-12. 

If those things under consideration are essential to Christianity, then the 
Christian dispensation is a step backward rather than in advance of the Mo- 
saic. The latter was ordained in the wisdom of God, and hence was calculated 
to effect the intended purpose which was plainly portrayed and, by all recep- 
tive minds easily understood ; while the rites and dogmas of which we are 
speaking are not only gratuitous, but inconsistent with the professed object. 
Instead of pointing the mind clearly to the essence of Christianity, a practical 
dependence on Christ, their chief tendency is either to settle in a false rest or 
to produce controversy and disunity ; some of them having been the occa- 
sion not only of the most absurd superstitions and erroneous conceptions of 
Deity, but of some of the most cruel persecutions and wars that ever disgraced 
the earth. 



98 AN INQUIRY. 

same spirit, the labor cannot be other than harmonious. When it is 
"tempered" together according to God's design, — the immediate work 
of God himself, — their can be "no schism in the body." — 1 Cor. xii. 
24, 25. It thus appears that the presence of a human or finite head 
is as utterly unnecessary in a rightly-gathered church, as it is utterly 
inconsistent with the design and service thereof. 

Jesus instructed his disciples that the substance of their desires or 
prayers should be, that the Will of God should be done on earth as it 
is in heaven ; but His will cannot be done on earth by free agents, 
unless each individual is made willing to wait in the " silence of all 
flesh " until he experiences the " kingdom " of God to " come," by the 
light of Christ becoming the actuating principle of his mind. 

The object and end of true religion is to lead the people to worship 
the One true and living God. In order to this, each individual must 
come to feel his immediate responsibility to that God, his Creator. 
For the substance of worship is obedience, — dedication of heart to 
know and to perform what is required ; and unless a man can redeem 
his brother and give to God a ransom for him (see Psa. xlix. 7), this 
must be done by each individual for himself. Social worship is per- 
formed where this dedication of heart is experienced by each of sev- 
eral members of the church assembled. Each being devoted to the 
same thing, influenced by the same power, they are cemented to- 
gether by a oneness of feeling, and are spiritually strengthened by a 
singleness of purpose and unity of desire, which can be known no- 
where but in the true and living body of Christ. 

It may however be said, and undoubtedly it is a truth, that in every 
system of religion there are those who do more or less depend for 
their guidance on this "inspeaking word;" but no one can say that 
the paraphernalia and machinery of sectarian organizations tend to 
direct the attention more and more to this. These living members of 
his body have come in a measure under the government of Christ in 
spite of these things, not because of them. 

The basis or origin of the religious feeling being the same in all, it 
is manifest that all men, the world over, are brought into the unity 
of the Spirit, the one Spirit, just to the extent that they yield to the 
feeling produced thereby ; and as every sincere effort to fulfill the 
will of God, or to turn away from transgression, must always give to 
this Spirit a larger place in our hearts, it follows that the strength 
or sincerity of this effort must be the measure of the degree in which 
any individual is united to Christ. 



CONCLUSIONS. 99 

For one who is favored with a truly enlightened education and sur- 
roundings to come under the government of the "light," would re- 
quire but a comparatively slight struggle ; while perhaps the same 
effort in one who is differently circumstanced would do but little to 
clear away the mists and shadows of darkness and superstition ; yet 
the one would be just as much united to Christ as the other, and just 
as thoroughly a member of his church. For the effort, the desire and 
love for the truth, is the same in each case, and being in the same 
direction, the tendency or influence must also be in the same direc- 
tion; and if God is a God of justice, the reward of the one must be 
just as that of the other. "Every one," said, Jesus, "that asketh, 
receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him that knocketh, 
it shall be opened." — Matt. vii. 18. 

The desire to know the truth may, in one sense, be considered as 
the basis of membership in the true church ; because it is this desire 
that gives Christ a place in the heart, and therefore the extent of 
his influence must be according to its strength. We receive the 
benefits of Christ's government in proportion to our "faith," or in 
proportion to our self-sacrificing devotion in seeking for it; hence the 
desire to know the truth, although differing in degree and influenced 
by different surroundings, must all be a unit as to its general ten- 
dency. Its effect must ever be to draw more and more into the unity 
of the One spirit, and to weaken the dependence on finite things; 
therefore all devoted seekers after righteousness, whether they know 
each other as such or not, are members of the One church. They are, 
in reality, working each one according to his measure of faith upon the 
same foundation; which foundation is a unit or "rock," — the imme- 
diate revelation of the Divine will. Thus we see that the influence of 
the Spirit of Christ is broad enough to embrace the whole family of 
man, and that the boundaries of his church are not limited to any 
particular class or denomination of people ; that it has within its bor- 
ders those who may yet be partially under the influence of forms of 
belief as divergent as the poles. But this does not prove that these 
finite beliefs or conceptions are not antagonistic to the church; it 
only proves that the power of the Spirit which unites the church is 
greater than the power of these ; 1 and that, where there is an earn- 



1 The influence of the one ever unites and cements together, while that of 
the other is but to divide and scatter. 



100 AN INQUIRY. 

est desire to know and obey the truth, it is able to supplant them, 
and, if adhered to, it will overcome their adverse influence on the 
mind. 

It proves both that the church is universal, and that its construc- 
tion is consistent with the performance of all that is promised ; that 
it is so immutably founded upon a " rock," — a unit, the immediate 
revelation of the Divine will, — that these finite conceptions, the gates 
of hell, cannot prevail with those who dwell within its borders. 

The desire after truth, when persevered in, is always met by that 
which is capable of satisfying it, and the individuals, whatever may 
be their surroundings, do thus, according to their measure of faith, 
come under the control of the One spirit, which is the " rock " or 
foundation of the church. But these conceptions or imaginations of 
men are but as openings to a condition of division and diversity, con- 
fusion and strife; hence they may with propriety be called the "gates 
of hell." Their only tendency is to rear up partition walls, to sepa- 
rate, divide, and subdivide the families of men, — while the work of the 
church, the tendency and influence of the Spirit which gives to it its 
life, is to destroy these walls and break them down; that thus all 
seekers after righteousness may be enabled to know each other in the 
truth; that the church may come up "out of the wilderness," pre- 
sent to the world a united front, and be in verity and truth as a "city 
set upon an hill." " Other sheep I have," said Jesus, " which are not 
of this fold, them also I must bring : and they shall hear my voice; 
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." — John x. 16. 

In this declaration, we have clearly depicted the work and service 
of the church, which is the body of Christ. 

For a man to love his fellow men with the Christian's love, with- 
out desiring that they may all be brought under the saving power of 
the One spirit, is an impossibility ; and if he desires that they may 
be so united, he necessarily must desire that they may become freed 
from everything which tends to keep them separate from it and from 
each other. To this end he will be willing to labor and, if needs be, 
to suffer. " Because iniquity " — disunity, confusion, deeds wrought 
in darkness, that are not " wrought in God " — " shall abound, the love 
of many shall wax cold ; but he that shall endure unto the end, the 
same shall be saved." — Matt. xiv. 12. 

If there are any who have enlisted in the work and service of Christ, 
but who are feeling discouraged, and are permitting their minds to be 



CONCLUSIONS. 101 

darkened and their faith weakened by the apprehension that the evil 
in the -world is too great to be overcome, let them remember and 
take home to themselves, the above declaration and promise of Him 
whom they profess to serve. 

To be "saved," is but to continue in faithful obedience under the 
direction of Him who has charge of the work that is on the wheel. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 



" Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better." — Eccl. x. n. 
" My people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, 
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." — Jer. ii. 13. 



IT would scarcely seems possible to construct a sentence that would 
present a more terse, or more definite and unmistakable sum- 
mary of the conclusions of the foregoing pages than does that decla- 
ration of the apostle, which has -already been more than once re- 
ferred to: — "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ." 

And, supposing that I am now addressing those who acknowledge 
the authority of the Holy Scriptures, certainly it is not too much to 
infer that it will be admitted, that in this passage we have brought to 
our notice a fact, which all who feel themselves called to a warfare 
against evil should stop to consider. Yet, we have not far to seek 
for evidence, that it is for want of a recognition of this, not keep- 
ing the eye " single " to this one " foundation," but suffering it to be 
misled and bewildered by the partial views and baseless projects of 
the worldly mind, that the so-called "great moral-reform move- 
ments," as well as the various popular systems of religion, are so 
barren of good fruit. 

Instead of striking at the root of the matter, by showing the neces- 
sity of a complete and radical renovation of the natural man, — hold- 
ing up the fact that no man is safe unless he is constantly watchful 
over all his actions, or brings all of his actions to the light for judg- 
ment; that no man has power to sit in judgment, or to discriminate 
between different forms of unrighteousness, all of which are a unit 
as to the effect, and therefore our only hope of safety is in having 
the whole plant purged out, root and branch together ; that right- 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 103 

eousness may supplant iniquity, but can never be grafted upon it, — 
instead of thus bearing testimony to the real facts of the case, that 
each individual must work out his own salvation, looking only to the 
manifestations of God within himself for strength, it has become the 
fashion with the popular " evangelists " and " reformers " to base all 
their efforts at reformation on an attempt to offset the destructive but 
subtle influence of transgression by the creation of what may seem 
to be antagonistic sensations and excitements, — diverting the senses, 
but not regenerating the affections ; and for this purpose they seem 
generally to have adopted a kind of division of labor-policy, different 
individuals and societies confining their attention to a specialty. 

We have already seen that the successful accomplishment of a defi- 
nite design requires, both that the design should be a unit, intelli- 
gently conceived, and that all employed should shape their work by a 
common standard of measurement. If each mechanic should be per- 
mitted to shape the part assigned him by a measure of his own crea- 
tion peculiar to himself, there could be nothing accomplished of more 
value than racket and confusion. So. in the present case, as there is 
no common standard of action, each individual being governed by his 
own impulses and imaginations, and each society by the imaginations 
and impulses of its leaders, it would be absurd to look for other than 
a like effect ; x and we see the result in isolated and disjointed attacks 
on some of the many consequences, while the one great cause of sin 
is left to work on unmolested, succoring and reproducing its offspring 
without let or hindrance. Although they claim to have the aid of 
One who is able to "overcome the world," to effectually dispossess 
Satan, the privilege is practically rejected by an attempt to serve 
both God and mammon, or perhaps rather to serve the one by mis- 
serving the other. It is true, the people are taught to call God the 
author of all good, and to denounce the devil ; but at the same time 
they are told, substantially, that they may continue to use the tools 
furnished by the latter, and draw their substance from his kingdom, 
and yet propitiate the former by dedicating to Him some of the fruits 
of their labor. In effect, they are told that Christ came not to save 
the people by substituting righteousness for sin, but to save them in 
sin, or from the consequences of sin, while they are still in the em- 
brace of the devil. The effort is, not to urge the people to flee the 

1 As we have already had occasion to observe, such must ever he the inevit- 
able result of every effort on the part of man to " put forth his hand and take 
of the tree of life." 



104 AN INQUIRY. 

kingdom of unrighteousness, but merely to endeavor to circumvent 
the prince thereof; not to shake off the grip by which he keeps them 
in bondage, but merely to withhold the payment of a certain part of 
their tribute, and then to persuade themselves that this is done in the 
service of Christ. Under this plan, it seems to be the general prac- 
tice to select a certain branch of the tree of evil, intemperance or 
drunkenness for instance, and to make it the object of a furious as- 
sault, creating such a hubbub in reference to it, that the effect is, on 
the one hand, to put those who profit by this form of evil on their 
guard, and to lead them to unite in planning mines and ambuscades 
for their defence ; while on the other side, although it may for the 
time being divert the carnal propensities from that particular lust, 
it also diverts the attention of those who come under its influence 
away from the insidious power of the various other branches, or of 
the other divisions of the great army of Antichrist, which are all 
inseparable allies of the one attacked, and which are thus left free to 
outflank the would-be reformers at every move. 1 



1 I suppose it may be said, that all these are efforts to do away with evils, — 
and that all efforts against evil should be encouraged. I answer, that while the 
desire to eradicate evil is always to be encouraged, the false ideas and decep- 
tive influences that misdirect the effort, and render it not only nugatory, but 
absolutely a strength to the evil, are not to be encouraged, but testified against 
and held up to view in their true character. 

Misdirected effort is always an evil in itself. 

If I had the care of another person's property, I might become possessed 
with the notion that speculation or stock-gambling was the best means of pro- 
moting his pecuniary interests ; but surely, neither the strength of my desires 
to add to his possessions, nor the eagerness of my efforts, would be sufficient 
ground to restrain him from bearing witness to the fact of my obliquity of 
vision. 

Perhaps it might be further objected that Jesus declared : — " He that is not 
against us is for us." 

"And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy 
name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said 
unto him, Forbid him not; for he that is not against us, is for us." — Luke ix. 
49, 50. 

I reply to this objection, that Jesus just as emphatically declared : " He that 
is not with me, is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth 
abroad." — Matt. xii. 30. 

There is nothing in the context to show that the above-mentioned person 
was not really acting under the influence of Christ's spirit ; but it seems clear 
that the objections of the apostles were, because their vision was obscured by 
some traditional or sectarian prejudice, such as influenced Peter before he was 
sent to Cornelius. We have the unqualified statement, both that he was cast- 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 105 

If a man lias a barren tree in his garden, which draws to itself the 
nutriment required for the proper growth of useful plants, would he 
display the most wisdom in attempting to remedy the matter by trim- 
ming around among the uppermost branches, or by grubbing the thing 
up by the roots ? In the one case, he only prepares the way for a 
more vigorous growth, and his labor goes for worse than nothing ; in 
the other, although it may require hard and long-continued toil, yet 
every stroke weakens the influence of the enemy, and when done, the 
object is effectually attained. 

There are people who tell us that drunkenness is the chief cause 
of crime, and they bring statistics to prove it ; others dwell on the 
misery and injustice occasioned by war; others on the lamentable 
effects of prostitution ; others still there are, who regard the thirst 
for wealth and power as the cause of far more misery and unhappi- 
ness than drunkenness and prostitution combined ; and it would seem 
that they have some ground for their opinion, particularly when we 
consider that the last-named are themselves, to a great degree, but 
the fruits of the despair resulting from blasted hopes and disappointed 
expectations in the absence of faith in a Saviour's power and love. 
And so with other forms of sensuality, — there are those who regard 
each as especially dangerous ; yet, in reality, none of these things 
are primary causes at all, but only some of the innumerable conse- 
quences of one great cause, the "spirit of the world," the unregen- 
erate mind of man, for which there is no alternative but to depend on 
the finite faculties for strength, and on the sensations produced by 
contact with earthly things for happiness. And for this, there is but 
one remedy, — practical Christianity, the admission of Christ to reign, 
or the regeneration of the conscience by his spirit. 

We are told that our natural propensities are all good in their 
proper place, and so they are ; that they only need to be restrained 
and regulated, — which is also a fact. But where is the power that can 

ing out devils, and doing it in the name of Christ. We all know that, in Scrip- 
ture language, "name," when used in this connection, is synonymous with 
" power." In the present case this is made plain by the fact, that by the power 
of Jesus was the only possible way that devils could have been cast out ; and, 
of course, no one will deny, that all who cast out devils by the power of Jesus 
must be laboring with and for him. But in the efforts to which I have been 
referring, it is, practically, not the power of Jesus that is invoked, but the 
power of human ingenuity. All that I am objecting to, or rather, all that I am 
trying to demonstrate, is the futility of all efforts to cast out devils in the name 
of Beelzebub. 



106 AN INQUIRY. 

regulate and control them? Where is the wisdom that mn n^i^n 
their proper place ? Can we depend on the fox to take charge of the 
poultry, or on the criminal for the repression of crime ? Will a foun- 
tain send forth waters both sweet and bitter ? 

It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum, and certain it is no 
earthly power can maintain a vacuum in the human " heart." Hence, 
altering of men's surroundings to remove them from temptation, or 
hedging them around to preserve them from iniquity, will avail noth- 
ing unless they are at the same time brought under the power and 
influence of righteousness ; or it will avail nothing only so far as they 
are brought under the power and influence of righteousness. Where 
Christ does not reign, 1 Satan, in one shape or another, will ever oc- 
cupy the room ; even though he should appear to our circumscribed 
vision to be doing the work of an " angel of light," it can be noth- 
ing but the same old subtle serpent still. For let it be remembered 
that he is the tenant in possession, and not being of a temperament 
easily to be entreated, he will evacuate only as he is displaced by the 
admission of a stronger power. 

Virtue, or any real strength, comes by overcoming temptation 
through " faith," and not by endeavoring to run away from it. Our 
great need is, not the obliteration or absence of those objects of God's 
creation which we, even to our sorrow, have learned habitually to 
pervert, but the active presence of the wisdom and power to use them 
as He designed they should be used. It is not the object that we 
misuse that needs to be either removed or regenerated, but the spirit 
or disposition that leads us to misuse it. 

When a man loads a pistol, points it to his head, and blows his 
brains out, the gunpowder produces the explosion, and the bullet en- 
tering the head is the immediate cause of death; yet these things 
never caused any one to commit suicide. It has its cause in the ab- 
sence of faith, which leaves room for morbidness and despair, and 
from these come the desire to so misuse these objects; and the only 
remedy is to secure the presence of "faith." To have been put in 
watch and ward might have prolonged his life, but of itself could 
have added nothing to his strength. 

1 "He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him." — John iii. 36. 

"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no 
more can ye, except ye abide in me." — John xv. 4. 

" If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." — 
John xv. 6. 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 107 

"What would we think of the physician who, instead of urging his 
patient to take such remedies as would restore him to health, should 
be contented merely to aid him in averting some of the most imme- 
diately painful consequences of disease, only that he may continue in. 
its embrace with more comfort ? 

Having become weak, it is for us to accept the means for restoring 
us to health, that the Creator has provided, 1 and not to take the 
matter into our own hands and absurdly endeavor to reorganize the 
creation to correspond to our weakness. 

If man has become a transgressor, then it is he that needs to be 
changed to correspond with the design of the creation, not the plan of 
creation changed to correspond to his weakness. 

In no way does man more loudly proclaim his natural proclivity to 
absurdity and folly, than in denouncing and anathematizing objects 
of God's creation, because he has been led by his own unbridled ap- 
petite to pervert those things to his own destruction. " To him that 
is pure, all things are pure." If all things are pure to him that is 
pure, it follows that a thing is impure to a man only because' he is 
impure. The disease is in the man, not in the thing, and where the 
disease is there is the place to apply the remedy. " It is not that 
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but those things which 
proceed out of the mouth, come forth, from the heart ; and they de- 
file the man." Let men " cleanse first that which is within the cup 
and platter," and there need be no fear but their relationship with all 
that is outside, will be clean also. Now in all this, I say nothing 
against social organization or the enactment and rigid enforcement 
of laws for restraining crime. I have said that gunpowder, bullets, 
and pistols never caused a man to commit suicide ; but I have said 
nothing in favor of the man who, knowing that his neighbor's mind 
is ripe for suicide, should furnish him with materials for the accom- 
plishment of it; neither have I said ought against restraining him 
from so doing, 

I have said that, for strength to overcome we must go deeper than 
the temporary removal of temptation ; that the mere absence of the 
object craved does not eradicate the groundwork of lust; but I have 
said nothing to justify him who, like Cain of old, refuses to be con- 
cerned for his brother's welfare. I have said nothing that can lead 

1 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the 
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." 
John x. 1. 



108 ^A r INQUIRY. 

any one to suppose, that the man who can traffic in or make merry 
over the weaknesses of his brethren, should not be held responsible 
both for influencing them to their destruction, and for not influencing 
them to their salvation. 

My object is to call attention to the fact, that those who can give 
their sympathy, and who would extend a helping hand to aid their 
fallen brother to arise, should be careful that they do not lead him to 
depend on such props as are ever liable to be withdrawn at a moment's 
warning ; but that they make it the object of their labor to teach him 
to lean upon the only staff that cannot be removed into a corner, — the 
only power that may be to him a present help in every time of need. 
My wish is simply to call attention to the fact, that in framing these 
laws and shaping these organizations, the will of the Creator, the 
higher law, must be made the basis of the work ; that when men un- 
dertake to " steady the ark " by the strength of their natural facul- 
ties, or to make those things which can affect only the outside of the 
" cup and platter," the means for accomplishing what Deity has ri ■- 
served as the perogative of His own spirit, they are like the man who 
would build his house upon the sand, in danger of being overwhelmed 
in the results of their own handiwork. 

Men may put forth their hands and bind the sinner, and thus pre- 
vent him from commiting any overt act ; but for his reformation, to 
elevate or strengthen him, they can do nought but commend him to 
a higher power, and direct him where he may find it ; and here it is 
a prime necessity that they should know whereof they speak, or first 
have found it for themselves. 

The only effectual means available to those who would lift up their 
degraded fellow-beings is persuasion ; the most essential element of 
persuasion is example; and the essential element of an example that 
is effectual for good, is the manifestation of perfect wisdom or love, 
or God manifest in man. No earthly power has ever forced a man to 
change either his heart or opinion, and never will. 

Human laws and organizations, with wisdom for their basis, are of 
Divine appointment, but at best they can go no further than the pro- 
tection of what already exists. A law has never yet been enacted by 
man that created anything, or brought a dead thing to life. The en- 
forcement of a law may restrain, repress, and kill; but it is the Spirit 
of Him alone, by whom the worlds were made, that can give life, and 
life is the only basis for reformation. Except it was preceded by and 
upon reformation, no law for the repression of sin could ever 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 109 

be enforced ; therefore this " life " which is declared to be the " light 
of men " is the only standard by which we can judge of evil. 

Evil is to be measured, not by the consequences that are visible to 
the human eye, but by the antagonism to the " light " or " life;" and 
of this man of himself has no means of judging. Man's vision ex- 
tends only to the outward effects on the body, while the matter of 
chief concern is in regard to the spiritual part : hence it is that God, 
who alone can perceive the true relation of things, "seeth not as man 
seeth ;" for man of himself can only look " on the outward appearance, 
but the Lord looketh on the heart." — 1 Sam. vi. 7. 

It is observable that Jesus referred to the consequences of iniquity, 
such as theft, murder, drunkenness, etc., only as proving the nature 
of the tree that could bear such fruit (see Mark vii. 20-23). His mis- 
sion was to " thoroughly purge his floor " {Matt. iii. 12). He makes 
no offer to aid us in attempting to prevent a foul stream from deposit- 
ing its filth or defiling its channel ; his office is to remedy the matter 
once and for all, by regenerating its source. The whole tendency of 
his doctrine is to prove, that all depends on the condition of the 
"heart;" and, to purify this, all human systems and laws are power- 
less. 

It is enough for us to know that an action or condition is evil : if 
it antagonizes the "light," it is to be eschewed. As to its relative im- 
portance, or the degree of antagonism, we have nothing to do. The 
question is, not what follies we may embrace with the least incon- 
venience, but should we embrace folly at all ? Our salvation is not 
grounded upon a choice between different forms of vanity, but upon 
the eschewing of all evil and choosing only the good. 

But perhaps it is well for us here to remember that, while it is for 
us to make this choice, yet for strength to obtain the " good," or to 
overcome the enemy, we are dependent on and must rely upon the 
wisdom of a higher power; and if our Saviour should see meet to per- 
mit, even after a prolonged struggle, some " thorns in the flesh " to 
remain with us for a season, it can only be to prove and refine us, that 
" sin may become to us exceeding sinful." Certainly we will find no 
justification in ceasing to strive against them, or in making them an 
excuse for dallying with the enemy of our souls. But here again it is 
equally important, that we do not permit our trouble with any par- 
ticular form of temptation to so occupy our attention, as to cause 
us to forget that it is but one of the horns of a monster whose name 
is "legion." 



110 AN INQUIRY. 

The man who would lead a righteous life must " be sober," and 
watch against every appearance of evil ; he must keep his " eye single 
to the light," — all his deeds must be brought to judgment in the light 
of truth. When he gives undue prominence to any particular form, 
or comes to regard some peculiar weakness as the whole sum and sub- 
stance, the very root of all sin, perhaps under the influence of tumul- 
tuous surroundings, or something which will keep his attention di- 
verted from the enticing power of his lust, he may, for the time being, 
so long as the excitement lasts, become free from its influence : so far 
as it, which he looks upon as his one great enemy is concerned, he now 
finds himself clear, and he feels himself pure and clean ; but his watch- 
fulness being directed to the one shape only, the way is left open for 
the entrance of a multitude of other devils, and like the man men- 
tioned in the twelfth chapter of Matthew, his last state is liable to 
be worse than the first. What profit is it for a man to fly from a bear 
only that wolves may devour him, or from a pestilence that he may 
become the victim of a subtle poison ? 

Those evil habits or propensities in regard to which we are rendered 
careless, either by a supposition that we are sufficiently strong to in- 
dulge them, or that they are comparatively trifles unworthy of our 
notice, are the very ones of which we stand in the greatest danger. 
Self-righteousness is not numbered with the Christian virtues ; and a 
continued reliance on the discriminations of the human intellect, or 
on the strength of the human will, is utterly inconsistent with a last- 
ing reformation or, in fact, with any reformation at all. 

"Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" ( Jo hn viii. 34); 
"for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bond- 
age " (2 Pet. ii. 19). "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves 
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey : whether 
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" — R,orn. vi. 16. 
So long as there are men governed by their carnal lusts, men who are 
not regenerated by the power of Christ, who remain impenitent and 
without the light, there will be those who can do no other than devote 
their lives to the gratification of their lusts ; for while men remain 
in darkness they can only perform the works of darkness. And a life 
so spent will always be attended by equally direful results, even though 
alcohol should be banished from the earth. And as for war, whether 
the " carnal mind " or " spirit of the world " is found manifesting it- 
self in the professed Christian church, in the business mart, or by the 
carnage of battle, it is everywhere the very essence of war ; so long 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. HI 

as it retains an influence on the earth, there must and will be war. 
The polecat cannot be taught to abandon its smell, nor the tiger to 
hate the taste of blood. 

If the influence of the heavenly principle or the " presence " of 
the Lord should be entirely withdrawn, and the " spirit of the world " 
given unrestrained control, the earth would become desolate in a single 
day. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they 
not hence even of your own lusts " (^fas. iv. 1) ; from that spirit which 
lives by sensual or wordly gratifications? And how can we stop the 
stream while the fountain is still flowing ?* " Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." To change the outlet of a 
river will not make its waters less bitter. Even though they should 
be fed on the daintiest products of the cuisine, the dog would still 
return to his vomit and the sow to the mire. And to feed the carnal 
lusts, to indulge that " eye " which " is not satisfied with seeing," or 
that " ear " which is not filled "with hearing," with some more hidden 
or more polished vice than drunkenness, will bring us not one whit 
nearer the kingdom of heaven. Surely those who are nursing the 
seeds of the " whirlwind " have no room to exalt themselves above, or 
to give advice to, those who are reaping the fruits thereof. 2 

The wolf in sheep's clothing had a better chance of stealing his 
meat ; and those follies which produce no immediately visible degra- 
dation or defilement are by far the most effective agents for keeping 
the world in bondage to Antichrist. 

Although man's natural impulses only impel him to folly, yet he is. 
at first in a state of innocence, and the natural impulses are, at least, 
for a time, at times and seasons, which in Scripture language are de- 
nominated the times of visitation, always more or less counteracted 
by the yearnings after light that are produced by the inshinings of 
the "grace of God," or "gift" for man's redemption. 

1 See Appendix, Note 6. 

2 Certainly, it can be nothing less than folly to hold up a certain condition 
to the execration of men, and at the same time, either directly or indirectly, 
to encourage them in such courses of action as proceed from the same root, 
and which must produce- fruit, differing perhaps somewhat in texture and 
form, but exactly the same as to its effective properties. To hold up the fruit 
as showing the nature of the tree, or as a warning against the cultivation of 
the tree that produces it, is a practical and sensible mode of procedure ; but 
to denounce the fruit and, at the same time, encourage the cultivation of off- 
shoots from the root that has produced it, is a method that needs no demon- 
stration of its folly. 



112 AN INQUIRY. 

We have found that it is by this " Grace " or " Spirit " alone that 
we have access to God ; that it is these manifestations of it alone that 
form the foundation of our salvation ; and hence it is of the first im- 
portance that men should be warned against those hindering things 
which prevent' an acceptance of these manifestations " in the day of 
visitation;" against those things which beset the mind at such times 
as it is tendered and susceptible to the influences of virtue, and by 
which it is then diverted from ^ the wooings and entreaties of the 
Redeemer. 1 

If the "prodigal" had not been enticed to take the first step in his 
journey, he would never have left his father's house ; and certainly 
we cannot suppose that he was induced to take this step by the mis- 
erable condition of things in the then to him "far country." And, 
moreover, we find that it was only by an awakened sense of the Fa- 
ther's love and bountiful treatment of His children, — an awakened 
sense of what he had himself experienced of the manifestations of 
that love, a renewed manifestation of grace or of the day of visita- 
tion, — that he was led to return. 

It is far more important that men should be warned against those 
deceptive influences by which they are enticed to ignore the impres- 
sions of virtue, than against the palpable results of transgressions 
which are universally recognized as such, and can deceive no one 
whose vision has not been utterly perverted. 

Now it appears that in endeavoring to satisfy the religious feeling, 
the yearnings after truth begotten by the light, men are, to a great 
degree, governed by their education. Hence, their relation to the 
truth, or the manner of their treatment of these yearnings, must de- 
pend very much on those who have the direction of their education ; 

1 " For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench 
about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side ; because 
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." — Luke xix. 43, 44. 

"No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him." 
— John vi. 44. 

As there is nothing more thoroughly demonstrated by a truly scientific view 
of the conditions of man's existence, so there is nothing more clearly set forth 
in the Scriptures of Truth than the fact, that men are entirely dependent on 
the Divine spirit, not only as a guide to truth, but as an awakener to the ne- 
cessity of such a guide. In the language of the apostle, Jesus Christ is both 
"the author and finisher of our faith." — Heb. xii. 2. Such being the case, we 
see at once the vast importance of a recognition of these impressions in their 
true character, and the woefully mischievous effects of any influence which, 
by misdirecting and distracting the mind, prevents such recognition. 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 113 

and when those who hold themselves forth as teachers of the people, 
and especially those who are popularly regarded as the representa- 
tives of their highest interests, pronounce actions to be lawful or un- 
lawful according to their visible effects, without laying any practical 
stress on the necessity of Divine illumination or guidance, it is plain 
that men must thereby be led to place their dependence on the sup- 
posed quality of the action, and not on the guidance or actuation of 
Divine wisdom. 

Here again we must remember that we are free agents, and can be 
preserved from iniquity, wrong action, only by bringing each action 
to the light for judgment. But supposing we are led to believe that 
the quality, either of merit or innocence, pertains intrinsically to cer- 
tain actions, then, of course, we account ourselves justified in or by 
the act, and consequently feel no necessity for bringing it to the light. 
Our watchfulness is diverted from the inshinings of Divinity to the 
discriminations of the human intellect. 

Hence it is by those actions, occupations, pastimes, and indulgences 
which, from a supposition that they are entirely innocuous and harm- 
less, or perhaps useful and necessary, lawful, are accepted and entered 
into as a matter of course, without arousing any sense of responsi- 
bility, that the tender, " visited " mind is in the greatest danger 
of being diverted and delivered over to unwatchfulness. And being 
thus placed under the dominion of darkness, the way is opened for a 
strengthening of the bonds of iniquity. As was declared by one of 
the wise men of old, even " the plowing of the wicked is sin." — Prov. 
xxi. 4. No action, not even such as is necessary to prepare suste- 
nance for the body, can be lawful to a free agent, in accordance with 
the design or law, unless it is actuated by an intelligent perception of 
the requisites of law ; and such perception is hid with Christ in God. 
"Wisdom or Christ is the only source of life ; l the only source of the 
capacity to live to God, or to live according to the law ; therefore, to 
be without His guidance, is to be " dead;" dead to the law, which is 
equivalent to saying, dead to all the real purposes of creation. And 
to anything that is dead, decay, progress in corruption, is natural 
and inevitable. Whether it is wet-rot, dry-rot, or petrifaction, is a 
matter that may affect the olfactory organs of those who happen to 
be in the neighborhood ; may make a difference as to the present com- 



1 " I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man conieth unto the Father, 
hut by me." — John xiv. 6. 



114 AX INQUIRY. 

fort and convenience of those immediately around them, and hence 
one may seem more desirable than the other ; but so far as the only 
essential point, the relation to the life is concerned, there is no differ- 
ence. 

While the mind is diverted from the only source of wisdom, vir- 
tuous action is impossible. Whether the mind that is so diverted finds 
its entertainment or seeks for sustenance in the beastly sensuality of 
a brothel, in the delusive hopes of the gambler, the hollow grandeur 
and self-exaltation of fashion's reign, the glamour and excitement of a 
theatre or ball-room, the empty splendor and bombastic pretensious- 
ness of a secret society, the conviviality of a club, the sensational 
enchantment of a novel, the glossy babble of a lecturer or orator, the 
fascination of games or of music, the gossip and thoughtless nonsense 
of a social company, the pursuit of worldly possessions or approba- 
tion, or even purely intellectual culture or enjoyment, is, so far as the 
fulfillment of present duty is concerned, a matter of but little import- 
ance. All these things, not only those that are manifestly super- 
fluous, but also those that are necessary to the sustenance and comfort 
of the body, if they are without the kernel, — the guidance of true 
wisdom, — they are but "husks;" "the husks that the swine do eat." 
These " husks " are all that unregenerated men (" swine ") have to 
depend on for sustenance ; hence, while they remain in the swinish 
state, to keep themselves full of " husks " is the best they can do, — it is 
all that they have to occupy their attention. All these things being 
nothing but "husks," all being without the kernel, there is no nu- 
triment in one more than another, — in the last-named no more than 
in the first. The only difference is, that when men are enticed away 
from the guidance of wisdom, the " Father's house," the farther they 
go, they generally find the " husks," their entertainment, more and 
more begrimed with dirt and filth, and the traveler becomes more 
and more fouled and besmeared, enveloped with earthliness, in eating 
of them. As to the life-sustaining principle, there is no difference; 
although clean " husks " may produce less nausea and be better cal- 
culated to tempt the palate that is not yet seared by continued use ; 
and for this reason, those " husks " that produce no immediately per- 
ceptible defilement, are the devil's only effective means for attracting 
the attention of men from the light, or for keeping them halting be- 
tween two opinions. 

It is the so-regarded lawful occupations that are the text-books of 
Babylon's infant and primary schools : if none accepted her teach- 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 115 

ings in these, no pupils would be prepared for her academies and col- 
leges, and her high-professor would soon be without an adherent. 

The first-named diversion in the foregoing list is disgusting and 
repulsive even in its appearance ; none are led to depend on it except 
by a continued process of deception, by a gradual envelopment in 
darkness : even those who are fast in its toils secretly regard it with 
abhorrence. It is those after-mentioned entertainments, that present 
the appearance of cleanliness and inoffensiveness, that can be placed 
immediately along the path of rectitude, and entice men to turn aside 
and to enter the bewildering by-ways that lead to spiritual starvation 
and death. 

If men should be effectually warned against the fair-looking but 
kernelless entertainment that is found nearest to innocence, the inns 
farther along the ways that diverge from the path to virtue must 
soon be abandoned for want of guests, and none would be found at 
the end thereof wallowing in the " pit." 

If it is important to guard against being enticed into a pursuit of 
folly, of course it is equally important to guard against deception and 
false glitter in the pursuit of virtue ; that we may not, like the fool- 
ish virgins, be beguiled to rest while our lamps are yet unfilled witli 
oil. And in regard to this phase of the subject, I suppose there is 
no other one thing that so universally forms the groundwork for 
those "figleaf coverings," to which allusion has been made, as the 
ascribing of meritorious service to the exercise of isolated attributes 
of righteousness ; worshiping the attributes of Deity instead of Deity 
himself. As though man could " put forth his hand " and take what 
he will of the fruit of the " tree of life," or frame for himself an or- 
nament of value out of the "jewels " that belong to Christ. 

The person with warm sympathies is ever the subject of high enco- 
miums, and is always much sought after for advice and assistance. 
Hence sympathy, untempered by wisdom, is a powerful agent in mis- 
leading the people. Likewise he, who makes justice his special virtue, 
overlooks all differences of condition and circumstances, and becomes 
the instrument of injustice and oppression; and again, mercy with- 
out justice can affect nothing that is really merciful. 

As iniquity cannot be destroyed by an attack on some of its conse- 
quences, so it is equally impossible to establish righteousness by cul- 
tivating one or a few of its attributes. Where its attributes are not 
all present, there can be no genuine righteousness. 

The basis of righteousness is a unit, Infinite Intelligence or wisdom ; 



116 AN INQUIRY. 

hence, if I may use the expression, righteousness is righteous only as 
a unit. Except as a unit, comprehending each relationship in its en- 
tirety, it does not exist : " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, 
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." — Jas. ii. 10. 

Though a person should be so loving and charitable as to appear as 
a veritable angel of mercy, yet if he lacks justice or any other attri- 
bute of Infinite Intelligence or true wisdom, of course he cannot act 
the part of wisdom. So far as a representation of righteousness is 
concerned, his life can be nothing better than a living falsehood. Such 
must be the result of all attempts to forward God's work, without a 
care to act only so far as the Divine light is made manifest or re- 
vealed, or without waiting for a clear revelation of His design or of 
what He requires. 1 

To make a summary of the matter, the light of Christ, Infinite 
Intelligence, comprehends each relationship in its entirety ; partial 
or one-sided judgment with it is impossible. This light of Christ is 
the only basis of righteousness ; therefore, a course of conduct that 
is based on partial or one-sided views cannot be righteous : it cannot 
correctly be called righteousness. 2 

We are saved, not by a mimicry of such traits of character in others 
as we may esteem good or righteous, but by the active presence or 
government of the thing itself; the living substance of righteousness 
within ourselves. 3 What is required of man is, not that he should 
dedicate to God fruit that he has gathered from the earth, or what he 
has gathered from his earthly experience and observation : this was 
Cain's offering that was not accepted, — God has no need of this. Man 
can give Him no information that He has not already ; neither ran 
he offer to Him anything that He does not already own, except it be 
a mind dedicated to His service. To Him the conclusions that man 
draws from his experience is "foolishness." What He requires is, to 
rule the earth Himself, that man for this end should receive His Christ ; 
hence righteousness, right action or right condition, exists only where 
Christ reigns, or to the degree that he reigns. Christ is our right- 



1 Here we are again reminded of the utter futility of man's efforts to reach 
the " tree of life," while his dependence is on his own earthly wisdom. 

2 See Appendix, Note 7. 

3 " For I bear them record, that they have a zeal for God, but not according 
to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going 
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves 
unto the righteousness of God." — Rom. x. 2, 3. 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 117 

eousness, — it is to be found in nothing of which he is not both the 
original and life-giving principle. 1 

There is but one " foundation." Nothing can save man from un- 
righteousness, delusive views, and partiality but Christ, " the power 
of God and the wisdom of God." The glitter of a "golden calf," or 
even the products of man's highest imitative powers, can furnish no 
substitute, although they may deceive and gain the applause of a be- 
nighted world. 

In the government and attributes of the worldly spirit, we have a 
realization of all that is said of the woman that John saw in his vision : 
" the great whore that sitteth upon many waters," whose name was 
" mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations 
of the earth." And in the un regenerate conscience of man is realized 
the "scarlet-colored beast," whereon was her seat. And all of man- 
kind who are unstable, who are not established on the One sure 
" foundation," are the " waters " (unstable elements) which were under 
her dominion. "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sit- 
teth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." — Rev. 
xvii. 15. And when in the vision "Babylon" was overthrown, and 
in its place the kingdom of the " King of Kings and Lord of Lords " 
established, the apostle saw in the latter " a new heaven and a new 
earth ;" the realization of a radical change in man's conceptions of the 
nature and requirements of heaven, the consummation of felicity and 
of the relations of the things of earth. He says : "And I saw a new 
heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first earth were 
passed away ; and there was no more sea." — Rev. xxi. 1. The "sea," 
the unstable natural man, had no place in the new kingdom estab- 
lished by Jesus Christ. " And I John saw the holy city, new Jeru- 
salem, coming down from God out of heaven," (not going up from the 
earth to God, as if man could have framed it,) "prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband," — it was already prepared so that the inge- 
nuity of man was not needed to adorn it. "And I heard a great 
voice out of heaven, saying : Behold the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and 

1 " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a 
righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judg- 
ment and justice in the earth And this is his name, whereby he shall 

be called, The Lord our righteousness." — Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 

" I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but 
bv me." — John xiv. 6. ■:'..- 



118 AN INQUIRY. 

God himself shall be with them and be their God And he that 

sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new." — Rev. xxi. 
2-5. 

Men have befooled themselves long enough, crying peace, peace, to 
that for which there is no peace ; trying to wall around, to preserve 
from contamination, from the stench of its own rottenness, the very 
origin and source of corruption. " God is not mocked ; for whatso- 
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to 
his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." — Gal. vi. 7, 8. It is only 
" of the Spirit " in that " kingdom " which has been'established in the 
world, but yet " is not of the world," that peace, safety, or true hap- 
piness can be found. 

Physician, heal thyself ; reformer, first be thou reformed : submit 
thyself to have the " beam" that is in thy own eye cast out; and when 
thou canst see clearly, then, perchance, thou will find thyself engaged 
ministering intelligently to the needs of thy brethren, — not by polish- 
ing their chains that these may seem less galling, but by leading in 
the way of an escape from their enthralment. 

The mission of the messengers of the Gospel is not to make pillows 
for the dead in their coffins, but to herald the tidings of life. " Let 
the dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." 

The Creator has both the right and the capacity to govern the cre- 
ation ; the- Creator alone has either the right or the capacity to govern 
the creation. The term " religion," in its true sense, is but a name 
for the government of the Creator or of His Christ. An increase of 
" religion " or of " civilization " is but the increase of Christ's govern- 
ment. Our place is not to spend our time trying experiments and 
formulating new schemes and systems, as though the Creator had not 
the capacity, but needed the assistance of our marvelous experience 
and foresight to enable Him to devise a suitable government ; but it 
is for us simply to submit to the government that has already been 
devised "in wisdom." " For other foundation can no man lay than 
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 

It is for each individual to ask himself the question : — not, Am I 
active in promoting schemes of the human imagination, or zealous in 
preserving the traditions of our fathers? not, Am I better than the 
average of my neighbors and. have a "name" in the world? not, 
Am I called by my fellow-men "a great reform advocate," "a relig- 
ious man," "a liberal-minded citizen," or, "a very enterprising and 
useful member of the community," etc.? not, Am I able to perceive 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 119 

other people's folly and to give them good advice, and to tell them 
how they ought not to make mistakes ? but just simply, Am I living 
under the government of Christ ? Am I prepared to be put in my 
place, and to perform my part as a member of his body, the militant 
church ? 

Primarily, we are responsible for no one's relation to his Creator, 
and consequently have nothing to do with any one's relation to the 
design of his creation, except our own. We are saved, not by our 
perception of other people's weaknesses, but by the eradication of our 
own ; not by our denunciation of another's transgression, but by our 
own obedience to the law of righteousness, the all-sufficient light of 
Christ. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's 
eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how 
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine 
eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first 
cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see 
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." 



" They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people 
slightly." — Jer. vi. 14. 

" Thus saith the Lord God, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that fol- 
low their own spirit, and have seen nothing ! . . . . They have seen 
vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith, and the Lord hath 
not sent them : and they have made others to hope that they would 
confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not 
spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it ; albeit 
I have not spoken ? Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye 
have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, 

saith the Lord God Because with lies ye have made the heart 

of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad ; and strengthened 
the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked 
way, by promising him life ; therefore ye shall see no more vanity 
nor Divine divinations : for I will deliver My people out of your hand ; 
and ye shall know that I am the Lord." — See- JEzelc. xiii. 

There is nothing more clearly demonstrated by history than that 
unity of purpose is infinitely more important than multiplicity of 
numbers. A few men, thoroughly in earnest and united in a common 
cause, will overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable ; when if 



120 -AX INQUIRY. 

they should allow themselves to become divided by internal dissensions 
and self-seeking aggrandizement, even though their number should 
be swelled to a multitude, they could accomplish nothing of value. A 
traitor in our own household is more to be dreaded than a thousand 
open enemies ; and when that traitor is one who is looked up to as a 
leader, the mischief of his influence is increased many fold. Divided 
councils, lukewarmness, or double-dealing in those who are supposed 
to be the special representatives of any cause, has the effect to repress, 
scatter, and keep in the background and obscurity its friends, and to 
give increased vigor and scope to its enemies. 

Thus it is, that those who have been looked up to as leaders and 
guides in the religious world, by their absurd inconsistencies, their 
antagonisms and discordant teachings, their practical denial of their 
own profession, their seeking for place and popularity, their yielding to 
the love of self and tampering with the allurements of Babylon, their 
cringing to wealth and worldly greatness, their spirit of compromise 
and apology, have done, and are now doing, tenfold more to retard 
the spread of righteousness or the progress of civilization, whichever 
we may choose to call it, than all the brothels, the dens of infamy, 
and the blasphemies of infidelity combined. 

Eighteen hundred years ago, twelve apostles proclaimed the Gospel 
of Christ to a people sunk deep in darkness and superstition, in the 
face of a gainsaying and persecuting world ; yet they were instru- 
mental in turning thousands to the light. 

To-day, the essential principles of this same gospel are acknowl- 
edged by multitudes in all the controlling nations of the earth. But 
those to whom the people look as standing in the place of the ap 
— the expounders of these principles, — where are they ? The lambs 
are seeking the door of the sheepfold, bleating for entrance. But 
those who have offered themselves as shepherds, what are they about ? 
Instead of guiding their flocks to the "One sheepfold," and placing 
them under the care of the " One shepherd," they are but calling them 
away to the pitfalls of the wilderness ; and, except the Lord himself 
had offered to succor them, they are therein left, without resource, to 
be divided as merchandise for the shambles of Babylon. 

The apostles found the church as an infant, thickly encompassed 
with bandages and wrapped in swaddling-clothes : they fed it with 
pure, heavenly manna, when, bursting its bands asunder, with one 
bound it assumed the vigor and comeliness of youth. But a thick 
canopy of darkness came upon it, and it fled into the wilderness ; there 



FURTHER CONCLUSIONS. 121 

the Lord has protected and nourished it, and its body has grown in 
stature, and its sinews have increased in strength. It now lies in our 
midst as a slumbering giant, which only needs messengers from the 
Lord to awaken it, that it may drive its enemies before it and compass 
the whole earth with the might of its right arm. 

Can any one read the signs of the times and not plainly see, that 
if but a tithe of those who are making profession of being called to 
labor as shepherds in the body of Christ, — those who undertake to 
teach what truth is, — were but thoroughly united under the guid- 
ance of Christ's spirit, as were the primitive disciples, and prepared, 
as they were, to sacrifice all of earth, even to life itself, for the sake of 
the truth, then myriads of seekers for the truth would gather from 
their wanderings and crowd to the standard of righteousness, making 
the ends of the earth resound with the melody of their praises for 
deliverance, and the paraphernalia of iniquity would pass from the 
land as chaff before the wind, or as darkness before the morning sun. 

The experience both of the present and the past is before us : will 
men never learn that Antichrist will not be entreated to withdraw 
from his possessions ; that those who remain within the bounds of his 
kingdom cannot escape the payment of tribute ; that, for the soldiers 
of the Cross of Christ, there is no peace except through victory ? Will 
they never see that a house divided against itself cannot stand ; that 
for the salvation of man, the compromising schemes of human inge- 
nuity, or the pledges of self-righteousness, are but as reeds that are 
rent and broken ? 

He that would save his brother, let him begin the work by seeing 
well to it that he himself is saved ; let him open his eyes and discover 
that salvation consists in a unity with the will of the Creator ; a de- 
liverance from the antagonisms and self-destructive efforts, the futile 
experiments, the political expedients, the conjectural devices of the 
earthly mind, and an establishment, by a unity in the One Spirit, as 
an obedient subject of the kingdom of Christ. Let him consider that 
he who bears witness to the light must himself see by the light, be in 
union with it, and guided by it. 



APPENDIX. 



1VOTE I. 

CIVILIZATION being substantially nothing but the " presence of God," or 
the reign of God's will on the earth, it is clear that, while it may increase 
as to its influence on the earth by a greater number of individuals submitting 
to its influence, there can be no increase or improvement as to its quality : 
that is to say, the man who lived in the days of Abraham, or at any former 
period of time, if his " heart " was " pure," if he was entirely free from selfish- 
ness, with his mind thoroughly devoted to fulfilling the manifestations of 
God's will, he was as thoroughly civilized, in every legitimate sense of the 
term, as the most enlightened man of to-day. 

The apostles were enabled to see and proclaim the " perfect Will of God," 
and no man of the present or of the future can do more. 

Abraham was enabled to perceive the design of God in its full perfection : 
Christ declares, " Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was 
glad." And undoubtedly the same might have been just as truly said of 
Enoch, the prophets, and a multitude of others of that period. 

But the Will of God required that their outward labors should be adapted 
to the dispensation under which they were living. All of these plainly saw 
that the design of God required that a pure and spiritual government should 
control the earth ; but they also saw, by the same light, that the " fullness of 
time " or day of preparation had not yet come, for its outward advent to be 
proclaimed, and they submitted to and performed what God required of them 
in their day and generation. They received the revelation of God's will im- 
mediately from Him, and they made the performance of His will their only 
reliance ; and no man of to-day can do more, or stand on a higher plane. 

The improvement of man is one thing, — the change in the arrangement of 
earthly things, which ensues as a consequence of his improvement, is another. 
A cause is one thing, — the consequence, another. A consequence is properly 
said to belong to the cause ; but it is not the cause, — it does not even consti- 
tute a part of the cause. 

We say, that we live in a civilized community : now, what do we mean by this ? 
Unquestionably, we mean that we live in a community that has experienced 
improvement. I suppose that the word " civilization " is never used except in 
association with the idea of human improvement ; therefore, in order to pro- 
mote civilization, it is of vast importance that we should understand just what 
the improvement of man consists in. To depend on the consequence as the 
cause is to be deceived and deprived of the desired result. 



124 APPENDIX. [Note I. 

A civilized person generally prefers to have his meat cooked ; hut there are 
men who prefer to have their meat cooked, and who live right here in our 
very midst too, who are as thorough barbarians as can be found in central 
Africa. And I suppose it is not risking much to say, that there are plenty of men 
in Africa who eat their meat raw, who have experienced far more of genuine 
civilization or of human improvement than some of those neighbors of ours, 
who not only eat cooked meat, but who live in luxurious palaces, send mess- 
ages half-way around the world in a few seconds, and ride in palace-cars at 
the rate of a mile a minute. 

And then again, the man who conforms to the ways of civilization merely 
from policy is not civilized : he is only a slave to public opinion. So far as 
public opinion represents civilization, or is moulded by civilization, he is re- 
strained by civilization ; but so far from being any strength to civilization, he 
is at best but a dead weight to be carried. 

"The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost." — Rom. xv. 17. 

If we regard our improvement or civilization as consisting of something be- 
sides the " kingdom of God " or government of Christ, or that it embraces 
more than is embraced in the " kingdom of God," how can we say that our 
"eye" is "single"? 

If human investigation or the accumulation of finite knowledge was the 
basis of civilization, or if it consisted in a certain arrangement of finite things, 
or in the facilities for manipulating finite things, or if man is only a natural de- 
velopment, — a naturally developed monkey for instance, — then we might well 
talk about being on a higher plane than our forefathers were able to attain to ; 
but, as it is but the "presence" of Infinite Intelligence, although man's rela- 
tion to it may change, the substance of the thing itself must ever have been 
unchangeably perfect, without variableness or shadow of turning, — the same 
yesterday as to-day, and the same to-morrow. 

All that is needed for the civilization of the world is, that all men should 
come to stand upon the same plane as did these ancient worthies. They were 
none the less improved because they did not ride behind a steam-engine, or 
because they wore clothes woven by their own hands. They were none the 
less perfect as men, — there was nothing detracted from the nobility of their 
manhood, because they did not talk frivolity through a telephone. The use 
of these things cannot make a man one whit more a man, and how can the 
absence of them degrade him? 

Hence, when we speak of the "progress of civilization," of the "increase of 
enlightenment," etc., we only mean, or ought only to mean, that an increased 
number of individuals, or an increased proportion of mankind or of a com- 
munity, have come to depend on the Divine indwelling light of Christ for 
their guidance, or that an increased proportion have been elevated to stand 
upon the same plane, or to stand nearer the same plane that the primitive 
disciples of Christ stood upon. 

When all mankind come to stand upon the plane that the apostles stood 
upon, or the plane that Isaiah or Abraham or Enoch stood upon, then the 
kingdoms of the earth will have become the kingdoms of our Lord. And then 
the work is done. 



Note II.] APPENDIX. 125 



NOTE II. 

The desperate struggle of the hierarchy to maintain its position, which is made 
manifest in the various efforts now being made among the different Protestant 
sects to adapt themselves to their new surroundings, or to strengthen themselves 
by bringing about a coalition or unity of action among themselves, of which 
the numerous "alliances," the "union" revival exercises, the appeals of the 
" moral reform " leaders, the exchange of pulpits and ostentations show of fra- 
ternization between the clergy of different denominations, and above all, the 
extremely " liberal " view's emanating from various high dignitaries of the dif- 
ferent sects, and the efforts of many of them to adapt their systems to the views 
of the "advanced " natural scientist, present one of the mdst interesting and 
important features of current history. It is a feature that furnishes us at once 
with a cause for congratulation, and the source of a most insidious danger. It 
is a cause for congratulation, because it affords certain evidence that the pro- 
gress of enlightenment has been such, that the hierarchy is being forced away 
from its ancient moorings, — dogmatic assertion and the exaction of blind obe- 
dience. It is a source of danger, because in the struggle to re-adjust itself the 
hierarchy has thus taken to itself the cloak of progress and liberality, and is 
thereby enabled to appeal to the people by the attractive promise of increased 
freedom, when from the very nature of its inherent organization the real ten- 
dency of its efforts can only be to lead back to servitude and bondage. 

Adulation can give no freedom ; flattery is not liberality ; to justify error or 
to gloss over folly, gives evidence of servility, not of a liberal mind. 

True Christian "liberality" does not consist in declaring, that for aught we 
know other people's convictions are as good as our own. This, so far from 
bearing witness to the truth, is but to unmistakably declare either that we es- 
teem worldly ease, the approbation of our neighbors, or the pleasures of social 
intercourse more than we do the truth, or else that we know of no truth to 
bear witness to. Neither does true "liberality" consist in the assertion that 
there are certain principles that are "non-essential," or that for the sake of 
harmony there are errors that may be condoned and truths that may be set 
aside. 

The truly " liberal " minded man can be earnest in the presentation of his 
convictions ; he can ask a fair and honest consideration of them ; but being 
free from the desire of self-aggrandizement, — and herein consists his liberality, 
which only means his liberty or freedom from selfishness, — he asks no man to 
accept his convictions until he can make them his own. 

In the design of creation, a man is held responsible, not for his apology or 
justification of his neighbor's convictions, but for the honest maintenance of 
his own. All hopes for the elevation of a community must rest on the earnest- 
ness with which its individual members live up each one to his own convic- 
tions of duty, and it is hard to understand how the preaching about "non-es- 
sentials " can encourage people much in this direction. 

I suppose it may be said that we are liable to be mistaken ; that our neigh- 
bors have access to the fountain of truth as well as ourselves ; therefore we 
should be modest in asserting this to be truth or that to be error. That we 
should be modest, I freely admit ; that we should be careful to bear witness to 
nothing, either as truth or error, until we have become convinced by a careful 



126 APPENDIX. [Note II. 

consideration of the subject, in which we have honestly endeavored to have the 
mind free from every species of selfishness, so that the light of truth may un- 
obscuredly shine, is one of the chief objects of my present labor to prove. No 
man is required to walk, or to talk either, any further than there is light af- 
forded. " Hidden things belong unto the Lord.' It is utterly futile for a per- 
son to bear witness to a truth that he does not comprehend. It is the extremity 
of folly for any one to deny the truth of a matter merely because he does not 
understand it ; it is only the " things that are revealed that belong to us." Our 
place is to testify to what we know, and to ever keep seeking for more light ; 
but when a truth is revealed to us, it is something placed in our charge, and 
we are to be held responsible for the proper use thereof* 

As charity does not destroy knowledge, neither does modesty. 

A man's growth in the truth depends on his honestly, unselfishly, and fear- 
lessly living up to what he believes to be his duty. When modesty prevents a 
man from doing this, it has ceased to be a virtue. 

When a man becomes so extremely "modest" as to consider other people's 
convictions as being better than his own, or to accept them as truth before his 
judgment is convinced, he is letting his modesty run away with his individu- 
ality; he gives his allegiance to human authority instead of his Creator: he 
has become a mere parasite, a helpless instrument in the hands of other peo- 
ple, an apendage for other men to wear as a garment, or to handle their dirt by. 

If I believe that my neighbor is acting to his hurt, surely it is not immodest 
for me to tell him so, and express my concern for his welfare. If he refuses to 
hear me, the responsibility is with him ; I have done my part. But perhaps 
he may give a good account of himself, and then I may be instructed and my 
mind enlightened to see wherein I had misapprehended the matter. It is by 
this kind of honest, unselfish, and unwearied labor between men acting as 
brethren, that the church is to be brought out of the wilderness and the truth 
presented in its unity before the world. 

" So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel ; 
therefore, thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. 
When I say unto the wicked, wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost 
not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his 
iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand." — Ezek. xxxiii. 7, 8. 

It was Cain, the murderer, that objected to being called to account as his 
brother's keeper. 

Except it is based upon this earnest and heartfelt concern for each other's 
welfare, there can be no such thing as profitable intercourse between brethren. 
AVithout this, the vaunted benefits of social mingling are a delusion and a 
sham. 

This unwearied Christian labor is the means provided by the Creator for the 
preservation and unity of the church. And because there are some men who 



* A man has no more right to yield up or to give away his opinion — what he believes to be right — 
for the sake of retaining or securing for himself the approbation of his neighbors, for the sake of making 
for himself a comfortable position in the world, than the bank-officer has to take the money entrusted to 
his care for the same objects. But the reader will here please observe that, to say we are not to give 
away our opinions is very different from saying, that we must force them into notice upon every occa- 
sion without regard to the use or necessity of so doing. The last is just as much out of place in a faith- 
ful "steward" as the other. Faithfulness in a "steward" does not consist in mere activity, but in a 
watchful readiness to perform only what the design of his master requires. 



N-oteIL] APPENDIX. 127 

are so puffed up with a sense of their own consequence, and so blinded by self- 
righteousness that they must fly into a passion, or feel themselves ill-used or 
have their "feelings hurt," whenever a brother may venture to suggest the 
possibility of their being in error, or because there are those who cannot ex- 
press their sentiments but they must denounce and anathematize every one 
who may not be prepared to accept their views as truth, — I say, because there 
are such as these, must the servants of Christ with their unvarnished state- 
ments of facts be suppressed, and the world given over to darkness and confu- 
sion to mollify them? Must the Church of Christ, the embodiment of all that 
is essential to the welfare of mankind, be kept out of sight under a covering 
of sophistry and lies, in order that such as these may be entreated not to 
unsheath their claws? Away with such an idea! 

And yet it is by just such an idea that civilization is threatened to-day. It 
is the demand for harmony, the love of ease and approbation, and the exalta- 
tion of the pleasures of social intercourse, that forms the snare that is laid for 
the entanglement of our feet. 

When the people were involved in grosser darkness, ignorant and depend- 
ent, the ends of priestcraft, the centralization of power and authority, were 
easily obtained. But now, the scene has changed : the progress of enlighten- 
ment has forced the acknowledgment of the rights of conscience, that all men 
are equal as children of God. The appeals to tradition and superstition are 
fast becoming of no avail: the hierarchy of priestcraft being thus brought 
face to face with the refinement and light of civilization, has found that, if it 
would retain its power, it must make a new, a more delicate, and more spe- 
cious covering for its emissaries. Its messengers now come to us praising the 
amenities of life, telling us about the importance and beauty of harmony in 
the social relation ; of the pleasure and happiness to be derived from smooth-, 
ness or the absence of controversy in our social intercourse. They gain their 
end, by enticing us to be ever grasping for the shadow instead of laboring to 
obtain the substance ; by beguiling us to build our house^without taking the 
trouble to lay for it a foundation. 

I think it may be safely asserted that, in our present state of civilization there 
is nothing that is more insidiously and effectively diverting men's attention 
from their place as stewards of the Lord's heritage, and thus making them 
careless and forgetful of their true interests ; nothing that more thoroughly 
sustains the essential elements of priestcraft, and hence there is nothing that 
more seriously threatens all the institutions of freedom, than the tendency to 
make pleasant social intercouse the object or end of life, instead of leaving 
the social relations to come as a consequence of the fulfillment of manifested 
duty to God. It is the tendency of men to look to their earthly relations for 
their happiness, instead of their connection with the kingdom of heaven ; to 
put the love of their fellow men and what they have to give in the place of 
the love of God. It is an influence that sets men at ease in a condition of 
activity as to the needs and desires of the creature, but of indifference as to 
the existence of fundamental principles. It is an influence that directs the 
attention of the people to the prescriptions of their fellow men, and the imagi- 
nations of their own hearts, instead of the revelations of the will of their 
Creator. 

To love any earthly condition for its own sake, merely for the sake of the 
pleasurable sensations we derive therefrom, is as utterly selfish as the love of 



128 APPENDIX. [Note II. 

gold or the thirst for dominion and power ; and of ail the different forms of 
selfishness there is none that can insinuate itself to sap the foundation of 
human happiness with the facility of that which is connected with the pleas- 
ures of social intercourse. Coming to us in the disguise of brotherly interest 
and regard, it insinuates its baneful influence far within the borders of the 
church : it finds lodgment, and destroys the spiritual life, even in those who 
are far advanced in religious experience. And may we not well suppose that 
Jesus had this fact in view when he declared : " If any man come to me, and 
hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sis- 
ters, yea, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." — Luke xiv. 26. 
That is to say, we must hate, utterly repudiate, everything that our fellow-men, 
even our nearest connections have to give us; their sympathy, approbation, 
etc., that is disconnected from the Divine will, or that may be taken as a sub- 
stitute for what is provided by Deity as the reward for obedience to His will. 
We must renounce everything that leads us to look to man for our reward for 
well doing ; " for," as Jesus in another place declared, " where your treasure 
is, there will your heart be also." — Lake xii. 34. 

If we love a certain condition of life for the sake of the opportunity that it 
affords us to influence our brethren for good, then certainly the efforts to bring 
that condition about will be something more than mere pandering to their 
natural instincts, or to their artificial tastes and desires. Yet, that this is all 
that much of our exalted social and educational machinery amounts to, I think 
it is not difficult to perceive. It seems to me that no one, at least no one who 
has had his attention called to the subject, can read the published proceedings 
of the almost innumerable "conventions," etc., professedly devoted to the pro- 
motion of human happiness, such as " church," " sunday-school," " social sci- 
ence," "teachers' conventions," etc., without being struck with the fact, that 
the predominating element in the basis of the whole is not the love of God, 
— the love of truth and righteousness, — but the love of human approbation. It 
is true there is much said about the necessity of complying with the laws of 
God or the laws of nature ; but the effort to discover those " laws," — the design 
of the Creator, — is here based on the observation and investigation of the ap- 
petites, propensities, and natural aptitudes of men. Their conception of the 
will of the Creator is formulated by their observation of degenerate men. It 
is the old story of cleansing the outside of the cup and the platter ; an attempt 
to purify the bed of a river by straining its waters at its mouth. 

It was said in olden times, that " he who trusts in his own heart is a fool." 
And it remains a practical truth to-day, that any effort to promote the happi- 
ness of mankind, originating in mere human ingenuity, must ultimately result 
in defeating and antagonizing the ostensible object. Here we are told, that if 
the people are to be brought to seek after virtue, then religion, which is the 
embodiment of virtue, must be made attractive to them ; and as the result of 
their endeavors to make it so, we see both themselves and the people, so far 
as they are brought under their influence, deceived into accepting as religion 
that which has no more legitimate connection with the service of God or the 
recognition of His indwelling light, than the performances at a ball or an 
opera. Religion, in reality, is only the " presence " of God, and it would seem 
strange indeed that the Creator of the universe should need to have Himself 
painted and decorated by the ingenuity of man in order to make Himself at- 
tractive. To see virtue or religion pure and undefiled, is to be attracted to 



Nora II.] APPEND IX. 129 

it: it is, of all things, the most attractive, — it is the "perfection of beauty." 
The trouble is, that the people are so thoroughly surrounded by, and their at- 
tention kept diverted to, the stained and distorting lenses of human manufac- 
ture, that they never get to see the real shape of religion at all. 

To encourage men to look only to God for their reward, is to direct their at- 
tention away from the prescriptions of men. It is equivalent to encouraging 
■each one to perform, not what he believes will procure him the approbation or 
unity of his fellow men, but what he honestly believes to be the will of his 
Creator, — what will procure him approbation and unity with God. The first, 
desirable as it is acknowledged to be, must be left to come entirely as a conse- 
quence of the last, or else not to come at all. To " keep the eye single to the 
light " is just as necessary in the nineteenth century as it was in the first. 

Hence the true preacher of righteousness bears witness to the truth, and in 
so doing he necessarily exposes error; but he asks no man to relax the honest 
zeal with which he regards his convictions. His labor is to enlighten his 
neighbor's judgment, so that he may become prepared to transfer his zeal to 
more truthful convictions. Honest zeal for the performance of duty may need 
direction ; it may need purification ; it may require the effusion of light, — but 
in no case can it be repressed or destroyed without the most calamitous results. 

But, to what end is this hue and cry throughout Protestant Christendom for 
coalition and united action? or to what end is this applauded spirit, not of tol- 
eration, but of " indulgence " ? If the people were called to a unity of action 
based upon a unity of sentiment, to be brought about by each one submitting 
his convictions to the One indwelling Spirit for judgment, it -were well ; but 
here they are called to harmony of action regardless of their convictions. The 
appeal is, to sink differences of sentiment for the sake of harmonious action. 
The partisans of a sect beseech the members of every other sect to consider 
everything, whether it be truth or error, which stands in the way of harmony 
as a " non-essential," although it must be acknowledged that, when brought to 
the pinch, they are frequently in no great hurry to do it themselves. The 
action of the body is placed above the conscientious judgment of the mind. 
The substance of the matter just amounts to this, — worldly ease and social en- 
joyment are placed above the revelation of the Will of God. 

For a body composed of various intelligent members without unity of sen- 
timent, harmonious action is utterly impossible. In such a case, any appear- 
ance of harmony can in reality be nothing but a general cessation of action, — 
an overpowering lethargy, under the influence of which all permit themselves 
to be carried along hopelessly with the current. 

Any effort to produce harmonious action without regard to unity of senti- 
ment can effect nothing but indifference to the convictions of the mind, — and 
indifference is just as diametrically opposed to freedom as is intolerance. 

Here we may find another illustration of the- natural tendency of men to fly 
to extremes, and of errors to run in a circle. Escaping from the bondage of 
persecution and intolerance, man seeks for a place of ease and dominion on 
the earth, and avoiding the wholesome restraints of the kingdom of righteous- 
ness, he soon finds himself at the opposite point of the circumference in the 
embrace of indifference to his convictions of duty. From indifference to con- 
viction the path leads by gradual gradations to anarchy, and from anarchy the 
road abruptly descends to the original starting-point, — tyrannical control, in- 
tolerance, and despotism. 



1 30 A P P E X I) IX. [ Note II. 

Indifference to conviction is indifference to conscience, and indifference to 
the dictates of conscience places a person as thoroughly at the mercy of the 
misleading falsehoods and destructive influences of the world as a ship with- 
out a rudder is at the mercy of the winds and billows of the sea. * 

To make a summary of the whole matter, the state of the case is just this : — 
In spite of every obstacle that the hierarchal power has placed in its way, the 
government of Christ has increased in strength and prosperity. By the con- 
sequent effulgence of light the people are fast coming to recognize the fact, 
that there are servants of God or members of the church of Christ to be found 
scattered throughout all the different sects. If the servants of God are to be 
found scattered and divided throughout the different sects, the only legitimate 
conclusion must be, that it is sectarianism — the existence of these sects — that 
prevents them from being united. The fact, that they are so to be found, has 
gradually been made so manifestly plain to the people, that the popular teach- 
ers of religion, the representatives of the hierarchy, f are forced to acknowl- 
edge it ; but, in the profundity of their foresight, they would have us to come 
to the sage conclusion that, because there are members of the church in all 
the different sects, sectarianism is desirable. 

The people recognize that the church, the kingdom of Christ or the kingdom 
of heaven, is united, universal, and unsectarian. The representatives of the 
hierarchy acknowledge the fact and applaud the sentiment, and then they set 
about beguiling the people into accepting that remarkable consummation of 
logic : — Because there is no sectarianism in heaven, therefore we must adapt 
ourselves to and take up our rest in a state of sectarianism on the earth. This 
is just what their appeals amount to, for a condition of harmony without unity 
of sentiment can be nothing more or less than resting in a state of secta- 
rianism. 

The order of their exercises is somewhat as follows : — They sing, at least in. 
effect, " There is no sect in heaven " ; then they pray, " Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"; then they proceed to preach 
up the great virtue of joyfully accepting a state of sectarianism on the earth. 
This truly seems like a roundabout way of coming at the object of their de- 
sires, if the prayer represents their desires; but then we must remember that 



* It would certainly be a great point gained if the people could be brought to see that God is the crea- 
tor, owner, and rightful governor of the whole universe, and that the principles representing His will 
alone represent the truth both as to their secular and spiritual welfare. In short, if they could be 
brought to see the unity of the truth, they might then perceive that the spirit of indulgence, of compro- 
mise, and of indifference, which permits their secular or communal interests to pass into the hands of 
parties and cliques, which places the people under the necessity of supporting a vast horde of worthless 
cormorants, to the depreciation of the value of their property, and the curtailment of their liberties and 
comforts ; I say they might then see, that the same spirit which does all this in the outward could not by 
any possibility add to their spiritual strength, — not even though blinded partisans should sing its praises 
and smile over it ever so sweetly. 

f It is well to remember, that the teachers of religion are by no means confined to the ordained clergy; 
but every professor of religion, to the degree of his influence, is a teacher of religion. Although the or- 
dained clergy represent the systematic support of the hierarchy, and for this reason may be considered 
its especial representative, yet although he may have no visible connection whatever with the clergy, any 
man professing to a discernment of the truth, who turns from the manifestation of the light, who pre- 
fers worldly ease and social harmony to a strict maintenance of principle, who in effect makes religion 
to consist in a pleasurable earthly condition or in the " refinement " of our earthly condition, is diverting 
the attention of any seekers for truth that may come under his influence away from the light, and hence, 
he is a " teacher" in the interests of the hierarchy. 



Note III.] APPEXDIX. 131 

with the destruction of sectarianism a great many people would lose both 
their influence and occupation. 

The Oneness or unity of the AVill of God is so manifest that it cannot be 
denied; that the world should be governed according to His will is equally 
plain. Yet we find those who profess themselves commissioned to declare 
the commandments of God to the world, proclaiming that, in our present con- 
dition, it is impossible to obtain a certain knowledge of what God requires 
of us ; that it is for us to adapt ourselves to a state of imperfection and dark- 
ness ; that our true interests demand that we should join hands and make our- 
selves contented and comfortable in the kingdoms of this world, leaving the 
kingdom of heaven, or the performance of God's will on earth as it is done in 
heaven, for future generations to look after. If the world has ever known a 
doctrine better calculated to make people contented to dwell at ease in their 
" ceiled houses," and to let the " house " of the Lord " lie waste," or more direct 
in its tendency to make them satisfied to dwell " without God in the world," 
surely it required some one with far greater ingenuity than fell to the lot of 
either Voltaire, Thomas Paine, or Robert Ingersoll to devise it. 

" The broad church of the future," of which we hear considerable said now- 
a-days, will be found to be neither a confederacy of sects, nor yet an amalga- 
mation of them, but simply the result of a destruction of them. It is to be as 
a " city that is set on a hill," whose light shall shine bright and clear, simply 
because it is no longer obscured by the nonsense and gloss of the human im- 
agination. 



NOTE III. 

X,et each individual feel himself responsible to his Creator 'for the fulfillment 
of his duty in whatever position may fall to his allotment, and the mooted an- 
tagonism between " capital " and " labor," etc., would soon become a thing of 
the past. 

If all the members of a community, both "capitalists" and "laborers," were 
-each one to work, with whatever power or capacity he had, under the influ- 
ence of the Creator, under the direction of a conscientious sense of duty to 
God, then each one would of necessity be acting for the good of the creation, 
— which means, for the good of the whole community. 

It is not an equal distribution of property that is required to secure the wel- 
fare of a community, but a distribution, or rather a prevalence, of the feeling 
of responsibility to God. 

It were the height of absurdity to assert that any man has the right, for the 
purposes of his own self-gratification and laziness, to despoil his neighbor of 
the fruits of his toil ; and, if we acknowledge the Creator's ownership and 
consequent right to govern the universe, it is equally absurd to assert that any 
man has the right to use the fruits of his toil for his own self-aggrandizement. 
Both the "capitalist" and the "laborer" are "stewards." Neither the one 
nor the other can use his power for the purpose of self-aggrandizement with- 
out becoming in some shape an oppressor of the creation. 

If the "capitalist," by his self-aggrandizement and the perversion of his 
possessions, brings the "laborer" into oppression, and if the oppressed rises 
up and hurls him from his place, he has no one but himself to blame ; and if 



132 APPENDIX. [Note IV. 

the " laborer," by his self-gratification and perversion of his endowments,plaees 
himself in a position to be oppressed, he has no one but himself to blame. 

The antagonism between such as these is but the strife of " the potsherd of 
the earth " " with the potsherd of the earth." The cause of righteousness is- 
in no-wise interested in the matter, except to have them both destroyed : I 
mean the spirit that actuates them both. If all the "political leaders" who 
are so eagerly proclaiming their concern for the welfare of the people could 
each one be induced to try for himself the experiment of having all selfish- 
ness eradicated from his heart, so that all could unite in directing the attention 
of the people to the one true source of strength, they would undoubtedly soon 
find that they could, with great safety, leave the " labor question," the " cur- 
rency question," and all other questions relating to the conveniences of life to 
adjust themselves. They would then discover that the basis of human pros- 
perity is neither " hard money" nor " soft money," but integrity of heart before 
the Lord. They would be enabled to see that if the people should be brought 
to "love the Lord their God with all their heart," and to manage their earthly 
affairs as His servants, there would not be the least danger but that they would 
find the means for procuring all that was necessary for their subsistence and 
comfort, and to give, at the same time, a full equivalent in exchange for all 
that they received. 

A happy day will it be for' the nations when all the people discover that the 
demagogue on the rostrum is as much the representative of hierarchal rule 
and tyrannical power as the priest in the pulpit or the tyrant upon the throne; 
for then, and not till then, will they have learned to look for their prosperity 
above and beyond the innumerable and antagonistic schemes of man's de- 
vising. 

Genuine prosperity must always be a consequence of fulfilling the laws of 
the Creator ; it can never originate in the ingenuity of man. 

When men take to themselves the liberty of eating of the fruit of the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil, to set up their own judgment as to what is 
right or wrong, or to govern their conduct by judgment or opinions based 
upon investigations and observations of their surroundings, their attention 
must become, as it were, divided to the four winds, — the result is death to the 
true design and purposes of the creation just as surely as it was under similar 
circumstances in the case of mother Eve. 



1VOTE IV. 

" Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these 
things shall be added unto you." In this declaration of Christ, the true rela- 
tion of things, according to the design of the Creator, is clearly portrayed ; and 
although men may be too thoroughly blinded by the god of this world to be 
able to see it, the scientific accuracy of the statement is abundantly confirmed, 
not only by the past history of individuals and nations, but by every event 
in the panorama of life which is being unfolded before our eyes. 

In the design of God, the outward condition must be the consequence of 
inward purity and enlightenment, — the consequent, not the cause of man's 
elevation. And it may with safety be asserted, that in no instance has an in- 
dividual or a community attempted to reverse this order, or looked to their 



Note IV.] APPENDIX. 133 

outward surroundings as the cause or vehicle of their advancement, hut they 
have, so far as they have done so, suffered the penalty attached to every viola- 
tion of the laws of God. — darkness and spiritual death. 

To continue the subject further: in acknowledging Christ to be the sole 
source of light, of our salvation from darkness and degradation, we necessa- 
rily must ascribe to Him all the consequences that attach to salvation ; which 
is equivalent to saying, that we cannot but believe that in the consequences of 
our obedience to his government or guidance we will find everything that is 
essential to our well-being ; that to keep the eye " single to the light," or to 
keep under his guidance, comprehends the proper fulfillment of every true re- 
quirement of our existence. 

In reference to this, how significant is the language of Christ? What more 
pregnant arguments could he have used to induce his disciples to concentrate 
their desires; to give him their whole heart; to place their undivided confi- 
dence where it must be placed, before they could experience the blessings 
of the heavenly kingdom, and know the Will of God to " be done on earth as 
it is in heaven," or the government to "rest upon His shoulder?" "No man 
can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love the other ; 
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God 
and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what 
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put 
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Be- 
hold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, : nor gather 
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much bet- 
ter than they ? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his 
stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the 
field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto 
you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. 
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to- 
morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little 
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall 
we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do 
the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all 
these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness ; 
and all these things shall be added unto you." — Matt. vi. 24-33. 

It is plain that, to effectually acknowledge the efficiency of a cause, involves 
an entire willingness to leave the effect to that cause. " Faith, without works, 
is dead."— Jas. ii. 26. Except our faith in Christ is such as to control or give 
form to our thoughts and actions, or to place our thoughts and actions under 
his control, it amounts to just no faith at all. If we have perfect faith in 
Christ as the cause, it cannot be otherwise than that we are free from any 
anxiety or doubt as to the consequences of an entire reliance upon him. 

To say, " Thy will be done," is nothing short of a falsehood, unless we are 
really willing to accept, without complaint or question, all the consequences of 
obedience to His will. A real desire that the Will of God may reign over the 
earth instead of our own wills, involves an entire renunciation on our part, 
except under Divine appointment or as a "steward," of all claim's to worldly 
possessions or glory. " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and 
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come and fol- 
low me." — Matt. xix. 21. It involves an acceptance on our part of whatever 



234 APPENDIX. [NotbV. 

position may be meted out to us in the providence of God, whatever position 
may result from obedience to Him, with equal humility and equal cheerful- 
ness, whether it be attended with worldly honor or with worldly contempt. 
Where there is a thorough dependence on Christ, where he reigns in the heart, 
there may perhaps rightly be an anxiety — or rather, a diligent watchfulness — 
lest we lose him and go astray ; but there can be no anxiety as to the conse- 
quences of his government. If we really acknowledge him to be lord of both 
heaven and earth, we cannot doubt that if we keep the eye directed singly to 
the filling up of his requirements, he will not fail to provide the means for ob- 
taining all that is essential to our well-being. Anxiety as to this would be 
purely and simply a want of faith as to the intelligence and omnipotence of 
our guide. 

But their reasonableness is made to appear so clearly by the context itself, 
that we need no further demonstration of the literal significance of those just 
quoted injunctions of Christ, on which, in order that they might continue to 
profess themselves the followers of Christ, without being obliged to give up 
their visions of worldly glory, men have expended such a vast amount of in- 
genuity, enveloping them with the opaque gloss of their imaginations, which 
some have been pleased to call "spiritualizing" them. " Without me ye can 
do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is 
withered." — John xv. 5, 6. 

When men undertake to choose for themselves the goal of their life-struggle, 
or to carve out for themselves a position on the earth, they are assuming a pre- 
rogative that belongs not to the children of Adam. And strange and improba- 
ble as it may appear to the worldly mind, it is when we have experienced this 
renunciation of our own wills that we find the greatest assertion of our indi- 
viduality, — of our manhood and independence. " If the Son therefore shall 
make you free, ye shall be free indeed." — John viii. 36. 



IV O T E V. 

The manner in which evil may come to us arrayed in the habiliments of 
truth, and deceive, if we are not sufficiently watchful, even such as really de- 
sire to live lives of righteousness, is well illustrated by that much applauded 
sentiment : " If we do but live right, we need to have no fear but that we will 
die right." " If we do but deal justly with our fellow-men, we need to have 
no fear as to how our account stands with God." 

Now this is true ; it is a literal statement of a fact ; and as such, it is largely 
entertained with approval by those who are really seeking for a knowledge of 
God. Yet, its only tendency is to lead men to depend on the fruit of the im- 
agination. It can serve no purpose whatever, except to halt the true seeker, 
and to strengthen and justify those who are willing to spend their lives with- 
out any definite knowledge of the will of their Creator. 

It is a statement of a fact, but it is a partial statement ; it speaks of the ne- 
cessity of living a life of righteousness, and of dealing justly; and this, all 
must acknowledge to be true. But in not showing what constitutes " righteous- 
ness" and "justice," or in not pointing to the only source of righteousness and 
justice, the definition of the matter is reverted to the diverse judgment of 
men, — to the surmises and conjectures of human observation. 



Note V.] AFP EX BIX. 135 

To give our dealings with our fellow-men precedence over our dealings with 
the Creator, is certainly nothing that can be claimed as belonging to wisdom ; 
yet to do this is the natural tendency of the human mind, and to submit any 
question to human discernment is practically to ask a decision on this basis. 

It will be a great point gained when the people discover that God is the 
rightful ruler of all the creation, and that man owes allegiance to Him in 
every relation of life. They would then perceive that a life of righteousness, 
so far from giving the supremacy to the temporal, only consists in the recogni- 
tion of the supremacy of the spiritual, and in the placing of it in a position to 
guide and control the temporal. They would find that any real service to their 
fellow-men must be based upon the service of God ; and that to serve God 
they must first become acquainted with Him, and keep their " eye single " to 
Him for direction ; they would also find that the specious talk about "serving 
God by serving our fellow-men " is, in the sense that is generally intended, but 
trying to make the cart pull the horse, and is only nonsense. 

It is this species of loose doctrines — which in reality are but modifications of 
the pernicious old doctrine of " expediency," which affirmed, " Whatever is 
expedient is right," and left it to the conjectural wisdom of man to say what 
is " expedient " — that have given birth to very much of the looseness and want 
of integrity that is so painfully manifest in so many persons holding positions 
of trust. Instead of leading to any real service of a man to his fellow-men, 
the only tendency is to direct man's attention away from God, the only source 
of righteousness, and to lead him to mis-serve both God and man. " For by 
grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of 
God : not of works, lest any man should boast." — Eph. ii. 8, 9. 

As another illustration of this species of deception, it is not unusual to find 
persons endeavoring to make an extolment and praise of some of the attri- 
butes of Deity serve as a screen for folly. 

Suppose a servant, who has been left by his master in charge of his posses- 
sions, abuses his trust and wastes his charge either by riotous living or care- 
lessness and inattention. If we should undertake to expostulate with him, 
and suggest the propriety of his endeavoring to communicate with his mas- 
ter, in order to make himself acquainted with his plans and wishes, and then 
to govern his actions accordingly, and should receive an answer somewhat 
in this wise : " My master is an extremely kind-hearted man, entirely too mer- 
ciful to call me to account for any injury that I may do him, and I feel sure 
that he will forgive me upon any kind of apology that I may choose to make," 
— I suppose we would not set a very high estimate either on the wisdom of 
the master, or the integrity and sincerity of the servant. But when we hear 
a person talking about the "mercy" and "long-suffering patience" of God as 
an excuse for indifference to principle, or as an apology for the perversion of 
the creation to the. purposes of self-gratification, we exclaim : — " How grand, 
how beautiful, are this man's conceptions of Deity! surely he must be the 
very emblem of righteousness." 

The devil knows full well that, so long as he can keep people satisfied with 
the shell of righteousness, they must continue to look to him for their suste- 
nance, and that he need have no fear about the stability of his government. 



136 APPENDIX. [Note VI. 



IVOTE T"I. 

All outward governments are, and must be founded upon the sword. All laws 
and enactments for the restraint of crime would be utterly worthless, if there 
was no force that could be used for their enforcement. "The magistrate bear- 
eth not the sword in vain." — Rom. xiii. 4. 

All the citizens of every community are to be divided into two classes : 1st, 
Those who seek conscientiously to perform only what is right; 2d, Those who 
yield themselves to their lusts and the thirst for self-aggrandizement. The 
first, at least to the degree that they are purely conscientious, have passed 
above and beyond the restraints of human laws or of the outward govern- 
ment, because they have come under the government of the spiritual or higher 
law, which, being infinitely superior, consequently supersedes, so far as those 
who are subject to it are concerned, the necessity of the earthly government or 
human law. Just to the extent that this class exists in a community, or just 
to the extent of its influence, to that degree does the outward "government" 
cease to be a government, and becomes transformed into a mere agency for the 
transaction of such matters as pertain strictly to communal relations and in- 
terests. Herein is where a democratic government differs from a despotism, 
and here may be discovered the foundation and source of free institutions. 
The other class are restrained from injustice, from crime, from the sub ver- 
sion of order, only by the knowledge that there is a power behind the law to 
enforce it, — that the sword will be used to restrain them. Between this class 
and the conservator of the peace, the executor of the law for restraining 
crime, there is unceasing antagonism, unceasing war. Perhaps there may not 
be constant bloodshed or unceasing clash of arms, but so long as this class of 
persons exists, any appearance of quiet or peacefulness between them can be 
but as the encampment of two opposing armies with all their pickets posted, 
and each man sleeping with his weapons within his grasp. " There is no 
peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked." 

When men undertake to do away with war — and what may be said of war 
in this respect, is true of every other consequence of iniquity — by any other 
means than the growth of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, or the regenera- 
tion of the heart, they are but endeavoring to overcome the laws of nature; 
they are more thoroughly antagonizing the design of Deity than does the 
warrior himself. 

To appeal to men to do away with war merely as a matter of policy, is to 
appeal to selfishness to destroy its own legitimate offspring. As the true 
Christian sjfirit comes to prevail on the earth, arbitration and such like peace- 
able methods of deciding differences of opinion in regard to earthly posses- 
sions will follow, as a matter of course. But to be of any real usefulness, it 
must come as a consequence of civilization. To be effectual for good, it must 
be performed as the outgrowth of the spirit of righteousness, and not merely 
as the best means for gratifying the spirit of the world. 

To accept arbitration merely as the best policy for the management of worldly 
affairs, — or, what amounts to the same thing, to accept the award of arbitrators 
because further litigation is attended with expense and risk of loss, or because 
it will pay the best, — is but to accept it as the most nutritious food for cupidity. 
Arbitration can amount to nothing in the cause of peace, unless the parties, 



Note VII.] APPEXDJX. 137 

or at least one of them, are sufficiently under the Christian spirit to be willing 
to suffer rather than contend. Where this is not the case, to go through the 
form of arbitration is, so far as the promotion of righteousness is concerned, 
but little better than the enactment of a farce. 

It was complained of certain men of old, that they cried " peace, peace," 
when there was no "peace;" and the person of to-day who bears testimony to 
a true peace as being either possible or desirable, except in the pure spiritual 
kingdom and government of Christ, simply bears witness to a lie. "Think 
not that I came to send peace on earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword." 
— Matt. x. 3L " Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you, 
nay, but rather division." — Luke xii. 51. "These things I have spoken unto 
you, that in me ye might have peace ; in the world ye shall have tribulation." 
— /o/m xvi. 33. "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom was of 
this world, then would my servants fight." — John xviii. 36. 

"Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth," is the Divine in- 
junction; and he who interposes to prevent their so striving together, or to 
meliorate their condition as potsherds, is likely to get nought but his trouble 
for his pains. "Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the 
kingdom of God." — Luke ix. 60. 

The Lord of creation has commanded the extermination of the enemy, but 
men continue to treat with it and to temporize, and with the glee of a child in 
the possession of some new toy, they congratulate themselves over their fore- 
sight and ingenuity, when suddenly some unlooked-for combination of events 
reveals the fact that, with efficient appliances for its extinguishment within 
their reach, they have been building their house upon the mouldering embers 
of a conflagration, which have now burst forth in flames to overwhelm them; 
but wdien the flames have subsided a little, then they make a new covenant 
with him that has deceived them, and'continue to call him their saviour. The 
fire is left to be ever mouldering, and the water to run to waste. 



NO TE VII. 

Religion, which in one sense is but another name for wisdom, like the atmos- 
phere, to be worth anything in sustaining life, must be taken in its integrity 
as a whole ; when separated, the component parts of the one are no less de- 
structive to life than those of the other. 

As an illustration of this fact, let us take sympathy for instance. Without 
sympathy there can be no such thing as a truly religious life. It is as essential 
to religion,— to a life in conformity with the design of God, — as oxygen is to 
the air we breathe ; but when separated from wisdom and taken for its own 
sake, it is as poisonous and destructive to the spiritual life as the breathing of 
pure oxygen is to the physical. 

We have found that there are in the human " heart " but two main springs: 
or primary motives to action : 1st, The love of truth, of righteousness, or essen- 
tially the love of God ; 2d, The love of self, of self-gratification, which is com- 
prehensively designated by the word selfishness. One or the other of these 
prevails in different degrees in different individuals, or even in the same indi- 
vidual at different times. Whenever or wherever the first predominates, or to 
the degree that it predominates, there is found self-renunciation, a want of 



138 APPENDIX. [Note VII. 

confidence in mere human ability, but confidence in God, — in what are, or 
what are believed to be, the revelations of His will. This self-renunciation is 
absolutely essential to the reception of the Divine light, or of true wisdom; 
and to this self-renunciation, every species of selfishness is diametrically op- 
posed.* 

That the love of sympathy for its own sake, merely for the sake of the 
pleasurable sensations connected therewith, is a species of self-gratification, 
and that its tendency is to lead us to look to those around us for support, and 
thus to divert the attention away from an entire dependence on the only source 
of strength, I think, are facts too plain to need any demonstration ; and such 
being the case, a little consideration must make it equally plain that it is a form 
of selfishness that is especially dangerous. 

Everything which makes this life profitable or desirable is found embodied 
in the church of Christ. The welfare of mankind is dependent on the extent 
of its influence ; and the extent of its influence must depend on its unity, — on 
the unshaken loyalty of its members to its Head. If men are to be turned 
from iniquity, it must be by being brought to see the comeliness of righteous- 
ness ; and this cannot be done effectually unless it is presented before them 
in its integrity and unity. By the grosser forms of self-gratification this unity 
is but little affected, because those who are governed thereby have but little 
influence in the church ; but in the love of sympathy we have an illustration 
of a form of selfishness which, coming in the disguise of concern for each 
other's welfare, insinuates itself far within the borders of the church. 

Again, we are brought face to face with the fact, that our worldly surround- 
ings and social connections must be left to come as a consequence of Divine 
appointment : — " Except a man hate father, mother, etc., he cannot be my dis- 
ciple." So long as we look to our earthly connections for our reward, we can- 
not be faithful, trusting disciples of Christ. "Whether this is done under the 
deceptive guise of a love for our fellow creatures, or under the specious pre- 
tence of a love for the truth, it is essentially the love of self — selfishness, and 
must always be attended by the same pernicious results. 

* I believe there is a disposition in many minds to associate self-renunciation with sorrow and gloom, 
and to regard all cheerfulness and joyful appreciation of created things as being inseparably connected 
with the gratification, or the refinement or cultivation, of the natural tastes and instincts ; but there can 
be nothing more egregiously erroneous, — it is only when we possess the earth as though we did not pos- 
sess it, that we possess it in reality at all. — See / Cor. vii. 29-31. It is only when the mind has been 
brought, through self-renunciation , into unison with the Divine mind, and is inspired by the impulses 
of that same life-giving Power by which the worlds were made, that.it can really appreciate the works 
of the Creator and reap true enjoyment in its earthly surroundings. It is only then that man can per- 
ceive the majesty and goodness of God in the creation, and feeling himself in unison with His marvelous 
design, with every faculty attuned to respond to the manifestations of His will, the soul rests peacefully 
in an ocean of exquisite joy. Compare the hollow cheerfulness that comes from self-gratification with 
this, — it is but to compare the mocking laughter of a harlot to the joy of a wedded wife, clasping her new- 
born infant to her breast. 

Such is the legitimate outgrowth of self-renunciation ; and such, no doubt, was the condition in which 
God created man ; but he who supposes that we are to be thereby removed from all sense of suffering, is 
again most egregiously mistaken. It is by this self-renunciation that we are joined to Christ, and are 
prepared to participate, as members of his body, in his labors for the restoration of the world. And 
here we must be brought into sympathy with all suffering, — as members of Christ, we must suffer with 
his " suffering seed ;" we, with him, must submit to be "wounded for" the "transgressions " of others; 
to feel the weight of the sins of the world ; to be baptized into death with those that " are dead in tres- 
passes and sins," in order that all may live. — See Isa. liii. It is by self-renunciation that we are made 
willing and enabled to endure suffering, — it is by it that our faith and trust in God is made paramount 
to every dispensation of suffering, and " death " becomes " swallowed up in victor}'." 



Note VII.] APPEXDIX. 139 

As an example of this, we see the devoted mother nursing her child in the 
lap of pride and luxury ; she sees it grow up before her with passions and ap- 
petites perverted and uncontrollable. Perhaps she protests and endeavors to 
persuade, but being powerless before its entreaties, she continues to indulge 
every whim and desire; she persuades herself that that which prevents her 
from being firm in restraining it and teaching it self-denial, is her great love 
for it ; but in reality, it is her love of self: it is because the love of the tran- 
sient sensations this indulgence brings to her, or her love of ease, is greater 
than her love for the child's true welfare. She uses as a toy, for her own sen- 
sational enjoyment, that which the Creator has placed in her charge to be 
nourished and cared for, and returned to Him again ; and like the perversion 
of every other thing that God has entrusted to our care, the end thereof is 
sorrow and vexation of spirit. 

Again, we see the popular preacher, — the one who professes to have in charge 
the souls of the children of men, — who buries his convictions, lays aside his 
knowledge of God, and bends the energies of his mind to studying the wishes 
and tastes of his congregation. He persuades himself that he is led to this by 
his desire to promote their happiness ; but in reality, it is his desire for their 
approval, their adulation and flattery, — it is his love of ease and sensual enjoy- 
ment. As the herdsman panders to the appetite of the fatling for the sake of 
the increase of meat, so does he pander to the appetites of his congregation 
for the sake of what they have to give. 

Again, we see persons who are far advanced in religious knowledge, who 
fully acknowledge in theory the necessity of self-renunciation, but who prac- 
tically are still so far under the dominion of self-love as to be unprepared to 
leave their social condition to be entirely a consequence of their own obedience 
to God; who are ever reaching out and yearning for the sympathy and support 
of their friends, and failing to find it to the extent or in the form of their de- 
sires, their lives become a continued wail of complaint and censure. They 
have seen in the distance the Father's house, and they have recognized its 
beauty ; but, shrinking from undertaking the journey alone, without the com- 
pany and aid of their friends, they ever stand fretful and impatient, complain- 
ing of their neighbors because they do not go along, prepare the way, and 
make their path a pleasant one ; and they persuade themselves that their wait- 
ings are all on account of their great zeal for religion. They have undertaken 
to engage in the service of God, but have reserved to themselves the conditions 
of their labor ; and because their neighbors do not make the conditions that 
they have prescribed for themselves possible, they endeavor to throw off upon 
them the responsibility of their own shortcomings. This form of selfishness, 
originating, as it does, in the love of sympathy, when given way to, indulged, 
and allowed to attain its full growth without restraint, has always formed one 
of the strongest bulwarks of persecution. 

It is selfishness, self-gratification, the appropriating to our own uses and 
purposes the endowments and gifts that the Creator has bestowed upon us, as 
though we were owners instead of "stewards," which is the source of all the 
misery and unhappiness that ever has been or ever will be known in the 
world. 

To feed on carnal sensations as a substitute for spiritual food must always 
lead in the downward path. Although those who are under the influence 
thereof may be more degraded, yet as food for the soul, the sensations of the 



140 APPENDIX. [Note VII. 

u bar-room " are no more degrading in their tendency than those of the " draw- 
ing-room," the "lecture-room," or the "church." The one only binds down 
those who are already on the earth, — the other casts down those who have 
ascended to the portals of the kingdom of heaven. The one at most can 
do no more than leave its stain upon the outer clothing of civilization, — the 
other, claiming to be her legitimate offspring, enters in and implants the taint 
of disease upon her very vitals. If her body were not weakened by this, 
the other could be cast off as easily as a strong man would cast off a filthy 
garment. 



CIVILIZATION: 

IS ITS CAUSE 

NATURAL OR SUPERNATURAL? 
AN INQUIRY 

BY 

A WAYFARER IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH. 



The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath He given 
to the children of men."— Psa. cxv. 16. 



PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

CHARLES H. MAROT, PUBLISHER, 

8 1 4 CHESTNUT STREET. 

1870 



